Today in European Tech: the birth of Europe's largest payments group, France Digitale sues Apple, Preply scores $35 million, and more

Today in European Tech: the birth of Europe's largest payments group, France Digitale sues Apple, Preply scores $35 million, and more

Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- The European Commission has given an unconditional authorization to the €7.8 billion euro merger between Nexi and Nordic rival Nets, the Italian payment group said today. The merger will create the Europe’s largest payments group.

- Kyiv-based edtech platform Preply​, has secured an additional $35 million of funding, a number that’s larger than all of their fundraising activities since 2013. The round was co-led by Owl Ventures and Full In Partners.

- Israel-based H2Pro has announced $22 million in funding from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, Japan’s Sumitomo and Korean auto manufacturer Hyundai. The funding is slated to take the company’s tech from laboratory prototyping to the factory floor through the production of commercial-scale electrolysers.

- Cosi Group, a Berlin-based startup offering an alternative to boutique hotels and managed short-stay apartments, is disclosing €20 million in new investment. Backing the round is Vienna-based Soravia.

- Epic Games has made another acquisition in Europe, snapping up Slovakia-based Capturing Reality, a photogrammetry software developer. With the deal, Epic plans to integrate its ‘RealityCapture’ technology into the Unreal Engine.

- Estonian-born, London-based work management software provider Scoro has closed a $16.4 million Series B funding round and plans expansion into US, APAC, and more French and Spanish speaking markets. The round was led by Kennet Partners.

- Wefarm, a social networking platform aimed at independent farmers to help them meet each other, exchange ideas and get advice, and sell or trade equipment and supplies, has raised $11 million in funding to continue expanding its business, which now has 2.5 million users.

- Plan A, a Berlin-based automated SaaS B2B startup, has raised $3 million for its platform that lets companies measure, monitor, reduce and report their environmental footprint thus improving their ESG ratings. French VC Demeter led the round, with German VC Coparion and Softbank joining the round as a strategic investor.

- 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

- France Digitale will file a complaint against Apple with data privacy watchdog CNIL over alleged breaches of European Union rules, France’s leading startup lobby said in a statement.

- Brussels is preparing to exclude researchers based in the UK, Israel and Switzerland from major quantum and space research projects, in a significant step that researchers and officials warn could have broad implications for science collaboration across Europe.

- The Covid-19 pandemic has meant that almost half of the working population in the European Union (EU) were fully or partially working remotely in July, up from around 10% before the pandemic crisis, according to Eurofound.

- French MPs propose ‘moratorium’ on 5G rollout, citing health, environment.

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