Hello!
Here's what happened today in European Tech.
Deals
- Just when you thought the SPAC had been played out, London-based healthtech company Babylon confirms the rumours and announces its plan to go public via a $4.2 billion merger with Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp.
- Israeli/British brokerage firm eToro is one step closer to its SPAC listing, which will value it at roughly $10 billion, after filing a draft registration statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for its merger with blank-cheque company FinTech Acquisition Corp.
- Prosus, one of Europe's most valuable tech companies, has struck a $1.8 billion deal to acquire Stack Overflow, an online community for software developers, in a bet on growing demand for online tech learning.
- File-sharing platform WeTransfer plans to seek a valuation of about €1 billion euros from a proposed IPO later this year, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
- Belgium-born IT asset management platform Lansweeper has raised €130 million from Insight Partners.
- Suma Capital, a private equity fund manager specialised in medium-sized companies and projects, and with a systematic strategy of responsible investment (impact and ESG), has closed its new fund: SC Growth Fund II, with €160 million in capital commitments.
- Mail.ru Group is in the process of fully acquiring the game streaming startup Playkey. Through this acquisition, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major intends to “develop Playkey solutions within My.Games Cloud and scale cloud gaming in Russia.”
- 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 announced plans for a digital identity wallet to allow Europeans to access public and private services via their mobile phone as the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the need for user-friendly online services.
- Joe Biden wants to secure a political agreement with the European Union to restore confidence in data flowing across the Atlantic when he meets leaders in Brussels on June 15, according to five people with knowledge of the talks.
- Many cryptocurrency firms are not meeting Britain's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing rules, the country's financial watchdog said today, showing how some parts of the emerging sector are struggling to meet required standards.
- The US government has announced that it is suspending for six months punitive tariffs on Britain, India and four European nations while it works to resolve a dispute over digital services taxes.
- Tech.eu Podcast: Telemedicine is here to stay — with Johannes Schildt, CEO of Kry.
- VC funds Frst and Fabric Ventures are teaming up to create Le Crypto Fellowship. With this program, the two firms want to find the next 10 crypto entrepreneurs in France.
- EU lawmakers are to battle over whether online platforms should be required to open their algorithms to scrutiny, making them accountable for fundamental rights violations, after the European Parliament published its initial revisions to the planned Digital Services Act. The new blueprint also includes stronger opt-in and enforcement measures.
- Israeli payments-as-a-service platform Rapyd has launched a venture arm to invest in early-stage fintech startups.
- The global digital race is on and the EU is on the list of participants. Do we dare bet on winning? Three European Parliament lawmakers explain how Europe should proceed.
- Germany announced it will invest €350 million in cybersecurity research in the next five years to boost the country’s digital security and technology sovereignty in the field.
- SAP has an ambitious plan to integrate its disparate supply chain networks with the launch of SAP Business Network.
Today's Top Tweets
EU #marketplaces & #platforms are
5 major #deals announced in the last 2 days alone:
@depop acquired by @Etsy for >$1.6bn
@tierscooters $60M ABF-line from @GoldmanSachs
@wefoxHQ raises $650M
#Malt secures $97M
@sennderofficial adds $80M
2021 bring it on!— Mathias Ockenfels ❎ (@ockenrock) June 2, 2021
Founder of @peanut, @shellkennedylon talks expanding to the US with @crosserton, @Wise and @christianreber, @Pitch in our #DestinationUSA podcast.
Subscribe to listen to how Europe's leading entrepreneurs took on the US market: https://t.co/kUoJ5je5ur pic.twitter.com/YdiZt0lqie— Index Ventures (@IndexVentures) June 3, 2021
#EUdigitalidentity in a nutshell ️
✔️ Available to any EU citizen, resident, business
✔️ Identify yourself to access public & private services
✔️ Choose which aspects of your identity & data you share
How will it work? https://t.co/Tip4zxYcEF pic.twitter.com/eBLOBds4NF— Digital EU (@DigitalEU) June 3, 2021
NYC's most valuable public company (UiPath) started in Romania
NYC's most valuable private startup (Celonis, now at $11B with the new $1B funding) started in Germany
NYC Unicorns Dataiku and Collibra were started in France and Belgium
See a pattern here?— Matt Turck (@mattturck) June 2, 2021
Commission report just out on the (ineffectiveness) on the eIDAS regulation is ploughing fertile ground for the digital wallet (EU e-ID) announcement to come forth from @vestager & @ThierryBreton this afternoon: https://t.co/UhxVQceHNM pic.twitter.com/8Ih8ayAKfP
— Samuel Stolton (@SamuelStolton) June 3, 2021
Who are the most influential people in European tech?
Read the latest trends discovered by our #Tech500 research and download the full report for detailed insights into the European Top 100: https://t.co/PG1DRHEZUJ pic.twitter.com/ng98SDhSWw— Tyto (@TytoPR) June 3, 2021
It's taking long for US chip maker Nvidia to ask the European Commission to review its probe with UK chip licensor Arm.
Nvidia 1st delayed to make sure didn't prevent Brussels from looking into the deal. Now they are dragging feet, and it irritates .https://t.co/2DrhpoS5nI pic.twitter.com/9q0V0kGXPN— Thibault Larger (@frogontheroof) June 3, 2021
Want to learn more about Wefox (#InsurTech, Germany) which just announced a massive $650m Series C round?
Listen to our recent discussion with Julian, its CEO:
https://t.co/MBLkOsiNbt#FinTech pic.twitter.com/VxJmlpm513— Florian Graillot (@FGraillot) June 3, 2021
I've been working quite a lot on the #foodtech and #agtech market these last months. Here are a few things I learned along the way #thread ⤵️
— Philippe MÉDA (@icopilots) June 3, 2021
Bumper Digital Bridge newsletter this week https://t.co/bHY2FIYo95. On deck:
- Exclusive details on Biden’s data pitch to Europe
- Meet Germany’s #antitrust hipster
- G7 leaders’ plan on (digital) taxes
As always, you can sign up here https://t.co/WDCBMJFBHx https://t.co/vrmtnpX43n— Mark Scott (@markscott82) June 3, 2021
Interesting! German insurtech scale-up @wefoxHQ just announced that it make every single member of its staff a shareholder by presenting them with share options (worth €5,000), following their $650 million Series C round announced earlier this week:https://t.co/WZp7Vw7Lfl
— Robin Wauters @ Tech.eu (@robinwauters) June 3, 2021
Was a real pleasure catching up with Johannes right after Kry’s €262 million Series D round.
Come for the interesting insights about their business, stay for the fun little “what’s something about Kry that most people don’t know” conversation at the end.
Listen up! https://t.co/STvqiWOUow— Robin Wauters @ Tech.eu (@robinwauters) June 3, 2021
Gaia-X risks missing its own target of women forming at least 25 percent of its board of directors, report @laurenscerulus and @clothildegouj https://t.co/p4ntphqJnv
— Laura Kayali (@LauKaya) June 3, 2021
Winners in the startup category of the UiPath Automation Awards receive mentorship, €50k & substantial tech/marketing support for 12 months. So #CEE & #Turkey startups – what are you waiting for? https://t.co/YAEC14KqUq via @tech_eu pic.twitter.com/W1ggczmQdu
— UiPath (@UiPath) June 3, 2021
How can you become #Estonia’s next moonshot entrepreneur?
Register now for the #AccelerateEstonia minisummit (9 June) & exclusive, limited seats office hour sessions (10-11 June) https://t.co/K7ANyZVnZL pic.twitter.com/GSfBCix7hr— Tech.eu (@tech_eu) June 3, 2021
Announcing #SesamersonTour Stop #9: Nordics on June 8th
Streaming live in collaboration with @TechBBQ, @gbgtechweek, @OsloIW & @arctic15 we will learn about VC Funding in Cleantech.
Don’t miss any updates: https://t.co/s8Z3Nk3qsv pic.twitter.com/RggGcSWniD— Sesamers (@sesamers) June 3, 2021
The little European seed fund that could. Third public market exit in a row. https://t.co/JQyVVK9a16
— hussein kanji (@hkanji) June 3, 2021
.@eToro adds 3.1 million users in the first quarter of 2021.
Israeli fintech company also doubled the number of trades executed on the platform year-on-year ahead of its upcoming SPAC merger at $9.6 billion valuation.@yoniassia https://t.co/PhhMcoObGm— CTech (@Calcalistech) June 3, 2021
Massive congrats to @stevenmendel on his $350m series D and hitting a $2bn valuation!https://t.co/QUlMhpT7WH
— Velocity² (@velocitysq) June 3, 2021
Today, employees at $1bn+ startup @gorillasapp will hold their first works' council election in Berlin. A few involved told @Siftedeu that they are campaigning for fair wages, appropriate holiday and sick pay, and investment in equipment to help riders avoid injury. https://t.co/R84m7UX1to
— Miriam Partington (@mparts_) June 3, 2021
Stockholm’s digital healthcare platform https://t.co/w2NP0t4K1S has raised €50m.
Founded in 2016, https://t.co/w2NP0t4K1S is the second most downloaded doctor app in Europe & has experienced huge success since the beginning of the pandemic.
via @tech_euhttps://t.co/DF1IhNpaKm— Hampleton Partners - Tech Dealmakers (@TeamHampleton) June 3, 2021
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