Today in European Tech: Sinch buys Inteliquent, big rounds for OutSystems and Blockchain.com, SPAC craze lands in Europe, and more

Today in European Tech: Sinch buys Inteliquent, big rounds for OutSystems and Blockchain.com, SPAC craze lands in Europe, and more

Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- SoftBank-backed Swedish cloud communications company Sinch, has agreed to acquire Inteliquent, a large voice communications provider in the United States, for a total cash consideration of $1.14 billion.

- Portugal-born OutSystems, a low-code app development service provider, has closed $150 million in new capital at a $9.5 billion valuation in a round led by Abdiel Capital and Tiger Global.

- The SPAC craze has officially arrived in Europe. European tech investor Klaus Hommels on Wednesday launched a blank-check firm aimed at snapping up a late-stage tech company in the region. Hommels, the founder of venture capital firm Lakestar, is looking to fetch up to €275 million for his SPAC.

- Swedish investment firm Kinnevik plans to distribute its stake in German online fashion group Zalando, worth $6.6 billion, to its shareholders. Kinnevik said the transfer would allow it to focus on younger, unlisted companies and its core investments in online food, digital healthcare, and payments companies.

- Israeli SPAC Moringa has $100 million on Nasdaq and will now seek an Israeli tech company to merge into.

- Swedish fintech startup Safello has filed for a listing on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm. The listing is tentatively expected to take place in Q2 2021.

- London-based Blockchain.com has closed on a strategic financing round, securing $120 million from Moore Strategic Ventures, Kyle Bass, Access Industries, Rovida Advisors, Lightspeed Venture Partners, GV, Lakestar, Eldridge, and more.

- Norway-born Web browser maker Opera is getting involved with European fintech in a big way, today launching its own startup called Dify and announcing its intention to invest more than $100 million in fintech over the coming years.

- Copado, a Madrid-based startup that’s built a devops platform for Salesforce, has closed $96 million in Series B funding, bringing the total funds invested in the company to $117 million.

- Peak, a Manchester startup on a mission to make AI available (and usable) to all businesses, has raised $21 million in Series B funding to fuel further global expansion, namely to open offices in the US and India. The round was led by venture capital firm Oxx.

- 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

- Fortnite creator Epic Games has taken its fight against Apple to European Union antitrust regulators, escalating its dispute with the iPhone maker over its App Store payment system and control over app downloads.

- He disrupted finance — now TransferWise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus wants to fight the pandemic.

- Google is teaming up with the European Investment Fund and two other organisations in Latin America and Asia to provide $75 million in funding to small- and medium-sized companies suffering from the impact of COVID-19.

- Italy’s Competition and Market Authority today fined Facebook €7 million for failing to comply with a 2018 order to change its data handling practices.

- UK ministers are to announce plans tomorrow for an £800 million scientific research agency legally entitled to invest in projects that are likely to fail and which will be exempted from freedom of information laws.

- Bol.com, the biggest online store in the Netherlands, has generated sales worth 4.3 billion euros in 2020.

- SME digital bank Cashplus is out to raise £50 million in new funding to support growth and unlock a higher proportion of deposit funding for SME lending following bank authorisation.

- Massive funding, huge IPOs and sky-rocketing valuations: Welcome to the fintech gold rush in Israel.

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