Hello!
Here's what happened today in European Tech.
Deals
- Tel-Aviv-based crypto custodian Fireblocks has raised $133 million in a Series-C round. To date, the firm has raised $179 million.
- Pollinate, a British fintech firm set up by one of Boris Johnson’s top business advisers Alastair Lukies, has raised $50 million from a group of investors led by Insight Partners.
- Norwegian edtech company Kahoot! has officially started trading on the Oslo Stock Exchange.
- UK-based low-code firm Genesis has landed $45 million in a Series B funding round led by Accel and featuring Citigroup. New investors GV (once Google Ventures) and Salesforce Ventures joined the round.
- Paris-based on-demand logistics and order fulfillment company Cubyn has raised €35 million in a Series C round. This now brings their total raise to €55 million.
- Berlin-based digital edtech company sofatutor has been acquired by EMERAM Capital Partners and Gimv, two European private equity funds.
- 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 launched today the European Innovation Council (EIC) with a budget of over €10 billion for 2021-2027 to develop and expand breakthrough innovations.
- EU nations will on Friday sign off on a series of declarations designed to ensure the bloc can build a sustainable, sovereign, and competitive future in its digital transition.
- Ireland’s data protection commissioner Helen Dixon has triggered an unprecedented war of words with other EU regulators, dragging into the open a long-simmering stand-off over its oversight of Facebook and other US tech companies based in Dublin.
- Viewpoint: EU will be ‘shooting itself in foot’ if it bars UK, Switzerland, Israel from quantum and space projects.
- Telecoms equipment maker Nokia is forecasting a pick up in profit margins to 10-13% in 2023, as new CEO Pekka Lundmark charts a course to catch up with rivals in the race to deliver 5G networks.
Today's Top Tweets
Designing an option plan for your startup? We've built an app for that.
Based on the largest ever set of benchmark data, comprising over 4,000 option grants from more than 200 startups across the US and Europe.
👉 https://t.co/edp0nXU5kV #ESOP #optionplan #rewardingtalent pic.twitter.com/2VNYEm1wj8— Index Ventures (@IndexVentures) March 18, 2021
Europe’s ‘breakthrough tech’ entrepreneurs need money, but also corporate connections to succeed, EIC’s Dr Francesco Matteucci tells Horizon
➡️https://t.co/314Yu1cDHS pic.twitter.com/amlYZgetOP— Horizon Magazine (@HorizonMagEU) March 18, 2021
Europe is a powerhouse in science.
The new European Innovation Council pilot projects will invest over €1️⃣0️⃣ billion in breakthrough technologies and game-changing innovations.#EUeic pic.twitter.com/Fv7jFtzmq1— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) March 18, 2021
Since its 2014 low, the music industry has grown by 44%, driven primarily by streaming revenues which increased 500% over this same period. In 2020 alone, Spotify paid $5B+ and makes up about 20% of global recorded music industry revenue, more than any other streaming service. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/fkfmllXFY9
— Daniel Ek (@eldsjal) March 18, 2021
Big day for EU science & startups, launching European Innovation Council - #accelerator + co-investments with private #investors. Read, share & apply https://t.co/FKisns6GFO
Similar co-investment model helped #EstonianFounders to kick start our "#unicorn friendly" ecosystem! https://t.co/yVG3DSaQEh— Martin Villig 🇪🇪 (@waldec) March 18, 2021
Spotify launches a site to share how it pays artists, says it paid $5B in 2020, up from $3.3B in 2017, and 13K artists made $50K+ in royalties, up 80% from 2017 (@ashleyrcarman / The Verge)https://t.co/VRuWdo2Sj2https://t.co/HZ6adfqlBj
— Techmeme (@Techmeme) March 18, 2021
⚠️ How Uber is short-changing drivers by cherry picking from the UK Supreme Court verdict - a thread 🧵👇
— Fairwork Foundation (@TowardsFairWork) March 18, 2021
Proud to launch the 2021 edition of 🇪🇺 Prize for Women Innovators to celebrate all talented women in #research & #innovation.🚺💡
📅 Apply by 30 June!
➡️ https://t.co/bV2YT7UU2y #WiPrizeEU #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM @EuEIC pic.twitter.com/jsY7o3Tm74— Mariya Gabriel (@GabrielMariya) March 18, 2021
Heads up - we're hosting our first Pitch Competition for underrepresented founders! We'll choose five finalists to pitch live to top investors. Register by March 22 and get your pitch in! Apply here: https://t.co/V1vWFAofPH@pierslinney @rpalmer03 @garystew https://t.co/DFP2OzUPO1
— FounderTribes (@FounderTribes) March 18, 2021
👏 Stoked to see @GetKahoot uplisting on the Olso Stock Exchange main list this morning.
📈 In 2020, over 250 million games were played with more than 1.5 billion participating players in 200 countries 💥https://t.co/b65xwCYb5z c/@mkotting— Northzone (@northzoneVC) March 18, 2021
Revealed: WeFox, one of Europe's biggest insurtech groups, is closing in on a big Series C fundraising that will value it at approximately $2bn. Target Global, a backer of Delivery Hero and Lyft, is in discussions about leading the round. https://t.co/XRa6PjoU7f
— Mark Kleinman (@MarkKleinmanSky) March 18, 2021
🔴 BREAKING NEWS! 👉🏼 @Wayra leads @Telefonica Tech Ventures' investment in @Fcaseio, a startup specialized in fraud detection and prevention orchestration #technology.
ℹ️ More info: https://t.co/PC3tXUEw1o#WeAreWayra #TelefónicaTechVentures #SomosTelefónica @WayraUK pic.twitter.com/gCgxBZV5AQ— Wayra (@Wayra) March 18, 2021
Very much looking forward to talking to @Alice_zag on Tuesday — join us if you're around. https://t.co/6i7T1VKVvS
— Andrii Degeler (@adegeler) March 18, 2021
Happy to have been part of this great initiative @OMERSVentures - and congrats to the other 17 funds recognised so far including @balderton @BessemerVP @atomico @500Startups @Foundrygroup @adaventures https://t.co/0LdcZR3uCf
— Harry Briggs (@H4ryB) March 18, 2021
Klarna US is on fire! Before lock down we were just about to move into a new New York office. As we now hope to come back into office, we realise we have outgrown the office we never moved into. Crazy! Thank you to all partners and colleagues for your amazing partnership!
— Sebastian Siemiatkowski (@klarnaseb) March 17, 2021
What does the future hold for European SPACs? https://t.co/NjY7qMBQza via @PEI_news @CMendozaPEI
— Invest Europe (@InvestEuropeEU) March 18, 2021
The EU Startup Nations Standard is the bare minimum each country should do to support startups. There is no excuse not to. #NotOptional https://t.co/yx7u0HcgiM
— vojtech (@vojtech) March 17, 2021
Congratulations to @pete_aj, Alexander Cardona, David Hoare and the team at Codat on their US launch!
The US Expansion team at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is proud to support Codat and wish them well on this next stage of their journey. https://t.co/Gv9V7rBLTF— Daniel Glazer (@DanielCGlazer) March 18, 2021
#PRIVACYBREAKING: The last days I have witnessed one of the most embarrassing @DPCIreland dramas for a long time. The summary on the @NOYBeu website, but in short:
The European Parliament had a hearing on #SchremsII in September 2020 and issued a (1)https://t.co/VBGcJzA6Uq— Max Schrems 🇪🇺🇦🇹 (@maxschrems) March 18, 2021
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