Hello!
Here's what happened today in European Tech.
Deals
- Israeli fintech powerhouse Payoneer has entered into a definitive agreement with Nasdaq-listed SPAC FTAC Olympus Acquisition Corp. Once the reorganization is complete, the merged company will begin trading at an implied estimated enterprise value of approximately $3.3 billion.
- Swedish gaming company Embracer has agreed to buy three gaming companies including US-based Gearbox, which makes the first-person shooter game Borderlands, for up to $2.5 billion. The other acquisitions are Cyprus-based Easybrain and US-based Aspyr Media.
- Denmark-born wine recommendation and marketplace Vivino has raised $155 million in a Series D funding round – a sum over twice as large as all of its previous funding to date.
- Box, a publicly traded cloud content and storage company, plans to spend $55 million to acquire Dutch startup SignRequest, a cloud-based electronic signature service. The deal should close by the end of April.
- A new Israeli SPAC is on course for a $100 million initial public offering on Nasdaq. The company, named Moringa Acquisition, recently filed a prospectus and is led by former senior executives at Israeli tech powerhouses SimilarWeb and Stratasys.
- Israeli autotech company REE, developer of a modular platform for electric vehicles, will be floated in the US through a merger with an SPAC, 10X Capital Venture Acquisition Corp. The flotation will be at an estimated pre-money valuation of $3.1 billion.
- Israeli autonomous real-time computing workload optimization and cost reduction solution company Granulate today announced the completion of a $30 million Series B financing round.
- Spanish banking giant BBVA has sold Holvi to an investment firm set up by one of the Finnish fintech's founders. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
- Porto and New York-based healthtech company SWORD Health, a fast-growing virtual musculoskeletal (MSK) care provider, has raised €20.7 million in Series B funding.
- Belgian data intelligence company Collibra has acquired OwlDQ, a US-based provider of predictive data quality software. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
- France's Beam has raised a $9.5 million Series A round. The startup is working on a new web browser that completely rethinks the way you start a web session and browse around.
- We also tracked a large number of (other) European tech funding rounds and M&A transactions, all of which we are putting in a handy list for you on Friday afternoon in our weekly roundup newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only). Also check out our European tech news section for ongoing coverage.
Worth Reading/Knowing
- Swedish music streaming giant Spotify announced its earnings for Q4 2020.
- The Italian government is considering measures to introduce a ‘public digital identity system’ in order to better control children’s access and use of social media platforms.
- Bebo chief reveals plan to take on Facebook and Twitter.
- There’s a new trend in takeouts — and Amazon looks ready to take advantage (with the help of Deliveroo).
- Cashplus, an established fintech firm offering digital banking services to UK businesses, has secured a full UK bank license.
Today's Top Tweets
We have reached another important milestone!🥳#HTGF celebrates providing seed funding for 600th start-up – Successful investment in @banxware
We are proud of it and welcome you to the #HTGFFamily
Press release➡️https://t.co/1dCYu23ZgV pic.twitter.com/tRqFz0cIpc— HTGF (@HTGF) February 3, 2021
Whilst @elonmusk is wiring a monkey to play video games, these UK #startups are looking to hack your mind! ⚡️💡🇬🇧
Take a look here! 👇🏼https://t.co/NnzSbwAhYC@Manusneuro @maaind_ai @Neurovalens @COMPASSPathway @QVBio #technology #UK #innovation #mindreading #UKtech— UKTN (UK Tech News) (@UKTNofficial) February 3, 2021
Congratulations to @heinizach and the whole @vivino team on their $155M Series D! 🚀 An incredible new milestone on their journey to democratise the amazing but opaque world of wine. Skål to the next billion bottle scans! 🍷https://t.co/acfQqnduHy pic.twitter.com/N4mrTDEkNH
— Balderton Capital (@balderton) February 3, 2021
Finally launching something I've been wanting to do for a very long time...
I'm going to interview the most talented operators who are building the success stories of European tech from seed to IPO.— George Henry (@georgehdf) February 3, 2021
In Playbook this morning:
- Andreas Schwab says the Digital Markets Act is « very late, but not too late ».
- Christel Schaldemose says the Digital Services Act should differentiate online marketplaces and social media platforms. https://t.co/QRbqWf4lro— Laura Kayali (@LauKaya) February 3, 2021
Great interview by @obrien discussing the use cases and context within which we launched Apple silicon M1 as-a-Service @Scaleway https://t.co/OFAJc5xKO2
— Yann LECHELLE (@ylechelle) February 3, 2021
In over 50 years of 'work' I can't remember a time I felt so excited about what the next 10 years will bring. The impact that Technology and Innovation will make on the really big challenges of our age will be profound. The global effort on the vaccine illustrates.
— Robin Klein (@robinklein) February 3, 2021
Whoop whoop! 🎉 Welcome, @WonderpathHQ and 🙌🏽@FactoryBerlin. Our Vision Lab is already off to a great start. Stay tuned for updates on the program + startups.👩🏻💻 https://t.co/FYt2SHaIaX
— Earlybird VC (@EarlybirdVC) February 3, 2021
"It struck us that this was a big idea that no one was really thinking about" 🤔 @cee is joined by @evanbfrank to talk about the highs and lows of his journey with @onefinestay 🙌 Check out the teaser below 👇https://t.co/7R6l2EbRZx
— seedcamp (@seedcamp) February 3, 2021
🇫🇷 🇳🇱 France & the Netherlands moving ever-the-closer on digital initiatives. This time, a new pact on Artificial Intelligence: https://t.co/v7ZeVXTZw3
— Samuel Stolton (@SamuelStolton) February 3, 2021
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