This Week in European Tech: SoftBank buys 40% of AutoStore for $2.8 billion, a tough new UK regulator in town, and more

This Week in European Tech: SoftBank buys 40% of AutoStore for $2.8 billion, a tough new UK regulator in town, and more

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked more than 75 tech funding deals worth more than €3.6 billion, and about 25 exits, M&A transactions, and rumours, and related news stories across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey.

As always, we are putting all of them together for you in a handy list sent in our round-up newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only).

Recently, we also started publishing 'Today in European Tech', a daily round-up of deals and news stories that caught our attention. Keeping you updated on all things EU tech is our priority!

Today, instead of a daily round-up we give you an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for the past week (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this round-up in your inbox every Monday morning).

1) SoftBank funds AutoStore all the way to a $7.7 billion valuation

Japan’s SoftBank has acquired a 40% minority stake in Norwegian robotics and software firm AutoStore for $2.8 billion. With the purchase, AutoStore now has a $7.7 billion market value.

2) $110 million for Israeli-built database management tech

Tel Aviv-founded database platform Redis Labs has closed a $110 million Series G funding round, now bringing the company’s valuation up to $2 billion.

3) TrueLayer raises $70 million for its open banking platform

London-based fintech scale-up TrueLayer has raised $70 million in a Series D round bringing the company’s total capital raised to $142 million.

4) There's a tough new UK regulator in town

The UK has launched a new regulatory body aimed at policing allegations of anticompetitive behavior among the world’s largest technology companies, adding another agency to a growing list of watchdogs scrutinizing how tech giants use their market heft.

5) No code, yes funding for Berlin's BRYTER

Remote-first, but officially registered in Berlin, no-code service automation platform BRYTER has raised $66 million in a Series B round.

6) Max Schrems accuses Google’s Android of illegally tracking users

The Austrian privacy activist Max Schrems has made yet another complaint about a Silicon Valley giant—this time it's Google and its Android mobile operating system, which Schrems and his data-protection organization say illegally tracks Android users.

7) Index Ventures presents its new seed-dedicated fund

European VC firm Index Ventures has announced the close and launch of a new $200 million dedicated seed investing vehicle it’s dubbed Index Origin.

8) Allfunds to go public in Amsterdam in "momentous" IPO

Madrid-based wealthtech scale-up Allfunds is targeting a valuation of over €7 billion from a planned Amsterdam IPO. As of 31 December, 2020, Allfunds had over €1.2 trillion of assets under administration, and €370 million in revenue.

9) Auxmoney gets €250 million for lending

Germany-based digital consumer lender Auxmoney has secured a €250 million funding deal with Citigroup and Chenavari Investment Managers.

10) AXA Venture Partners en route to a new €500 million growth fund

Paris-based AXA Venture Partners (AVP) has completed a €250 million first closing of its new AVP Growth Fund II. By year’s end, the final closing is expected to bring in €500 million.

Podcast:

- tech.eu Podcast #214: Thrasio’s Carlos Cashman, TIER and Kahoot! go shopping, $2.8 billion for robots, and more

Bonus link:

- We dove into our database to capture all the funding deals — as well as IPOs and M&A — that minted new European unicorns in the first three months of 2021. To make things easier, we counted all startups whose valuation surpassed one billion US dollars, euros, or pounds — and found 27 of them!

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