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Today in European Tech: Acast en route to a Stockholm IPO, big funding rounds for Bux, Ornikar, MatHem, and GO Sharing, and more

Robin Wauters 22 April 2021
Today in European Tech: Acast en route to a Stockholm IPO, big funding rounds for Bux, Ornikar, MatHem, and GO Sharing, and more
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Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- Swedish-founded podcasting company Acast is reportedly closing in on a Stockholm IPO that would value it at around €500 million.

- An international investment fund based in East Asia has acquired Israel-based Investing.com for $500 million, sources told Globes.

- UK-based re-commerce group musicMagpie has been admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange this morning, giving it a £208 million market cap.

- Kinnevik is clearly going all-in on the red-hot online grocery delivery market. Just two weeks ago, they dropped at cool €220 million on Norway’s Kolonial (now Oda), and now how jumped into MatHem’s shopping basket (again) to the tune of €14.8 million in the grocer’s €108.7 million funding round.

- French startup Ornikar, which set out to bring a new approach to driver education and road safety, and then used that foothold to expand into the related area of car insurance, has raised €100 million.

- Israeli cybersecurity company Deep Instinct has raised $100 million in a Series D round led by the world's largest asset manager, BlackRock.

- MeinAuto, a German online car marketplace backed by Hg, plans to go public on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the second quarter. The company is looking to raise at least €150 million via the placement of new shares.

- Medtech and digital health solutions growth stage investor Endeavour Vision has closed its Endeavour Medtech Growth II fund at €290.2 million in capital commitments.

- Bloom & Wild, a London-based online flower delivery and gifting platform, has acquired bloomon, a Netherlands-based competitor, for an undisclosed sum.

- Not exactly an investment in Europe, but UK fintech scale-up Checkout.com is leading a $110 million funding round for Saudi payments firm Tamara in one of the Middle East’s largest-ever startup investments as demand booms for e-commerce and fintech solutions.

- Bucking the trend of traditional brokers, Amsterdam-based BUX is on a mission to become the neobroker in Europe. To help accomplish this mission, they’ve raised €67 million in a funding round led by Prosus Ventures and Tencent.

- GO Sharing, an electric mobility startup founded in Nieuwegein, the Netherlands, has secured €50 million in funding from Opportunity Partners, as well as its own founders.

- Warsaw-based investment firm Inovo has closed the final round of its second fund, Inovo II, at €54 million. The European Investment Fund corner-stoned the investment, and Inovo reports, “a range of global funds, entrepreneurs and family offices joining.”

- Israeli personalized video-as-a-service platform Idomoo has filed a prospectus for an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Market sources believe that the company will try to raise $30-40 million at a company valuation of $150 million.

- A videogame company based in Portsmouth has been snapped up in a £43 million acquisition. Climax Studios, a provider of game development services to the industry, was founded in 1988, which makes it one of the longest-established game development businesses in the UK.

- 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

- Revolut, an online banking start-up based in the UK, is planning an expansion into India. The London-based company announced Thursday that it had tapped Paroma Chatterjee, a former executive for Indian start-ups Flipkart, Via.com and Lendingkart, to lead its operations in the country.

- Swedish EQT has hit the final close of its ninth buyout fund at its hard cap of €15.6 billion, the largest private equity strategy wrapped up in Europe so far this year.

- One of the global leaders in online food delivery, Just Eat Takeaway.com is in plans to create over 1,500 jobs in Liverpool by the end of this year.

- The Met Office is working with Microsoft to build a weather forecasting supercomputer in the UK. They say it will provide more accurate weather forecasting and a better understanding of climate change.

- New investment firm in town thanks to the launch of Lightbird Ventures, an early-stage VC firm backing Swiss & European tech entrepreneurs.

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Today in European Tech: Acast en route to a Stockholm IPO, big funding rounds for Bux, Ornikar, MatHem, and GO Sharing, and more
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