Hello!
Here's what happened today in European Tech.
Deals
- French VC firm Serena has launched a new fund, Serena III, bringing the company’s available capital for early-stage and Series A startups to more than €300 million.
- Filed! A couple of German entrepreneurs led by HelloFresh co-founder and CEO Dominik Richter are teaming up with a UK-based technology investor and dealmaker to list a $300 million SPAC in the US.
- Infarm, one of the world's fastest-growing vertical farming companies, has reportedly picked bankers to line up a mammoth fundraising that will underline burgeoning investor interest in the sector and turn the company into a unicorn.
- A new VC fund, “2150“, is launching with the first close of a €200 million fund which will back technologies aimed largely at reducing the carbon footprint of cities. For example, startups that inject carbon into concrete, or monitor the energy of buildings. The final close is anticipated by mid-2021.
- Kahoot! has acquired Finland's Whiteboard.fi, an online whiteboard tool for teachers and classrooms that helps engage students both in the physical classroom and through remote learning.
- Israeli web apps protection company PerimeterX today announced that it has completed a $57 million financing round led by AllianceBernstein.
- Cazoo, a UK-based online car retailer, has acquired Cluno, a German consumer car subscription platform, for an undisclosed amount.
- Rows (previously dashdash), a Berlin-based startup that lets people build business apps using only spreadsheet skills, has announced a $16 million Series B led by Lakestar.
- Israeli AI-powered SaaS investment management and asset servicing enterprise platform FundGuard today announced that it has closed a $12 million Series A financing round led by Team8.
- Switzerland's Bloom Biorenewables has concluded its seed investment round resulting in a total of €3.9 million raised in a round that was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures-Europe (BEV-E), a new €100 million investment fund launched by Bill Gates with the aim to boost clean energy innovation in Europe.
- Tallinn-based Katana has raised $11 million to scale its leading manufacturing ERP (enterprise resource planning) platform for SMEs producing locally, selling online globally.
- London-based cloud storage startup StorageOS has raised a $10 million Series B round led by Downing Ventures.
- UK-based fiat and crypto payments network Bottlepay has raised £11 million in a seed funding round backed by British fund manager Alan Howard, present and former Goldman Sachs partners, FinTech Collective and Nydig.
- Vilnius-based 3D model provider CGTrader has raised $9.5 million in a Series B funding led by Finnish VC fund Evli Growth Partners, alongside previous investors Karma Ventures and LVV Group. Ex-Rovio CEO Mikael Hed also invested and joins as Board Chairman
- Mobile advertising company ironSource is announcing its second acquisition of the year — Luna Labs, a UK startup that’s built a platform allowing app developers to create and manage video and playable ads.
- 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
- The European Commission proposed today to set up 10 new European Partnerships between the European Union, Member States and/or the industry. The goal is to 'speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, and to make European industry more resilient and competitive'.
- Swedish payments firm Klarna may list on the stock market without raising money by selling new shares, its CEO told Reuters, as banking sources said the company was close to securing more private funding.
- Oatly, the Swedish vegan food and drink maker backed by celebrity entrepreneurs Oprah Winfrey and Jay-Z, has confidentially filed for an initial public offering in the US.
- Uber weighs its future in the UK after court ruling.
- Q&A with Spotify's Daniel EK on growing the number of creators on the service and engaging with them, podcast success metrics, Clubhouse, and more.
- French government presents roadmap to bridge digital and environmental transitions.
- TikTok and Shopify are partnering in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK to help European Shopify merchants create and run ad campaigns directly geared to towards the TikTok community.
- Finnish postal and logistics service provider Posti will invest over 100 million euros in its growth. The money will be used to develop parcel and e-commerce competencies and to strengthen its delivery network.
- Teatime Games, the Icelandic startup that is best known for its hit mobile game called Trivia Royale, has ceased operations.
- According to venture investing platform OurCrowd’s Jobs Index for the fourth quarter of 2020, 86% of its portfolio companies will be returning to offices in either a hybrid model or entirely remote by June 2021.
- How to navigate UK startup legalities: Pandemic edition.
Today's Top Tweets
On March, 2nd, sign up for a free pre-conference “Startup+Corporation Collaboration as the Key to Success" by @podimconference to learn from four experts how to make the most out of a startup-corporation partnership. Sign up here: https://t.co/c2QnY6IRbI pic.twitter.com/fXC7oU4R3Y
— tech.eu (@tech_eu) February 23, 2021
Today in The French Tech Journal (@FRTechJournal): Talking to Xavier Lorphelin (@xlorphelin) about @serenavc's new $300 million venture fund and how their operations team works with startups. https://t.co/r0oLXWq6Xy
— Chris O'Brien (@obrien) February 23, 2021
We are delighted to welcome Gino Ferru as Senior Vice President (SVP) and EMEAR General Manager.
Read more: https://t.co/1301BMMU8D#PressRelease— HERE Technologies (@here) February 23, 2021
Another great tech M&A supported by @i5invest #KaleidoAI #canva https://t.co/2BizjYdiFo
— Dima Kharchenko (@dima_kharchenko) February 23, 2021
The EU will invest €1⃣0⃣ billion in the 10 new #EUPartnerships
🤝Public and private partners will invest at least the same amount
⏭️speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral & digital Europe
👉 https://t.co/NEkl0r8v46 pic.twitter.com/009cxtzj96— Jean-Eric Paquet (@JEPaquetEU) February 23, 2021
Find out how deep tech is helping European corporates compete. Attend a Feb. 24 virtual tech talk I am moderating that is being organized by @Atomico + @RWTHAachen University. https://t.co/qs2oZ1PQFd
— Jennifer Schenker (@jennschenker) February 23, 2021
To speed up the transition towards a green, climate neutral and digital Europe, we have set up 10 new partnerships between the EU, EU countries and/or the industry.
We will provide nearly €10 billion, which partners will match with at least the same investment.#HorizonEU— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) February 23, 2021
Almost 100 million downloads, millions in funding from the likes of @a16z, @sriramk, @joshelman, @ipaananen, @scooterbraun, @davidhelgason, ...
Ukrainian startup @reface_app is taking the world by storm.
Here's my conversation with CEO @dmitrshvets:
> https://t.co/7SAt4KdAfv pic.twitter.com/SV0R1RPfcI— Robin Wauters @ tech.eu (@robinwauters) February 23, 2021
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