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Today in European Tech: Polestar raises $550 million, Germany-based Solarisbank plans a SPAC, Lingoda scores €57 million, and more

Robin Wauters 15 April 2021
Today in European Tech: Polestar raises $550 million, Germany-based Solarisbank plans a SPAC, Lingoda scores €57 million, and more
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Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- Polestar, Volvo Car Group’s Sweden-based standalone electric performance brand, has raised $550 million in its first external round.

- The Germany-based banking-as-a-service platform Solarisbank has announced planning an IPO using a SPAC. (The company got in touch to let us know there has been no such announcements and that it's keeping all options on the table)

- Berlin’s online language learning school Lingoda has raised €57 million in a round led by Summit Partners and saw participation from existing investor Conny Boersch, founder of Mountain Partners, an early investor in Lingoda.

- Seven Senders, the Berlin-based delivery platform for parcel shipping has closed a Series C funding round to the tune of €32 million. Led by Digital+ Partners, btov also participated in the round.

- IBM has acquired MyInvenio, an Italian startup that builds and operates process mining software.

- Brightlands Venture Partners (BVP), a Netherlands-based sustainability & health venture capital firm, has announced the first closing of its BVP Fund IV at €45 million.

- London’s consumer loans provider Fintern has raised £32 million in equity and debt financing from a variety of undisclosed angel investors. Debt financing will be provided by Hamburg-based financier Varengold Bank.

- German entrepreneur Ralf Wenzel, formerly of Delivery Hero and SoftBank, is launching a global rapid delivery retail platform, entering a field that is attracting huge investment and experiencing explosive growth.

- 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 has expressed reservations about France’s plans to implement in national law new European rules that place obligations on international video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.

- Berlin-based mobile bank N26 is moving into the insurance space, offering customers the option to purchase coverage, manage plans and initiate claims in-app for a range of insurance plans from different providers.

- Riksbank Governor Stefan Ingves said Sweden could have a digital central-bank currency within five years, as the concept of money looks set to enter a new post-cash era.

- Shares of British food delivery firm Deliveroo fell on Thursday, as the company warned its growth could lose steam as economies start to reopen, in its first trading update as a public company.

- The European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) is entering a new phase this year as the EU continues its mission to federate the myriad of data sharing systems around the continent, to make it easier for researchers to pursue fully open science.

- Irish P2P lender Linked Finance has smashed a €150 million lending milestone as appetite for SME loans continues.

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Today in European Tech: Polestar raises $550 million, Germany-based Solarisbank plans a SPAC, Lingoda scores €57 million, and more
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