Hello!
Here's what happened today in European Tech.
Deals
- About You, the German fashion e-commerce company that aims to digitalise mall visits by creating a personalised shopping experience on smartphones for young teens, is looking to raise €941 million euros in a Frankfurt IPO. Tuesday’s implied price range of between 21 euros and 26 euros implies its equity is worth up to €4.4 billion.
- Israeli digital adoption SaaS company WalkMe has filed a revised prospectus with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. WalkMe will sell shares at between $29 and $32, raising a total of between $268 million and $296 million, giving it a post-IPO valuation between $2.4 billion and $2.7 billion.
- Israeli startup Verbit, which has developed an AI-powered real-time transcription and captioning platform, has secured $157 million in Series D funding, giving the company a valuation of over $1 billion.
- Proving that Central and Eastern Europe remains a powerhouse of hardware engineering matched with software, Gideon Brothers, a Zagreb, Croatia-based robotics and AI startup, has raised a $31 million Series A round led by Koch Disruptive Technologies.
- Just south of Paris, Palaiseau-based quantum processor maker Pasqal has raised €25 million in Series A round led by go-to quantum computing fund Quantonation and the Defense Innovation Fund, managed by Bpifrance.
- Paris-based financial and account management solutions provider Pennylane has raised €15 million in new funding from Sequoia Capital.
- 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
- Google has bowed to pressure from rivals and will let them compete for free to be the default search engines on Android devices in Europe, widening a pledge to EU antitrust regulators two years ago.
- The founders and CEOs of Delivery Hero, Bolt, Glovo, and Wolt have joined forces to work on a better model for regulating platform companies with the aim of providing specific commitments and recommendations to governments.
- Ahead of a parliamentary vote later this year, the Kremlin has been fine-tuning its strategy to pressure platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and TikTok to remove anti-Russian government content, classifying a growing number of posts as illegal and issuing a flurry of takedown requests.
- The EU is facing a backlash over new AI rules that allow for limited use of facial recognition by authorities — with opponents warning the carveouts could usher in a new age of biometric surveillance.
- Some of the biggest names in the music industry have called on the UK government to change the way musicians get paid when their songs are streamed online over platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.
- Tide, the digital business banking group, is closing in on a new round of funding led by the growth arm of one of Britain’s biggest private equity firms, that Sky News says could value the company at around £350 million.
- Sweetwood Ventures, an Israeli VC, announced the launch of its second venture capital Fund-of-Funds, saying it will be targeting $120 million in investments in leading early-stage and growth-stage Israeli technology companies.
- Sky News has also learnt that Scott Fletcher, a former child actor, is closing in on a blockbuster £200 million deal to sell his IT company ANS Group.
Today's Top Tweets
Big news! On June 16th, after months of workshops and interviews with our 200 members, the #ScaleUpEurope initiative will be releasing its first report on @VivaTech's main stage at 10 am - more updates to follow pic.twitter.com/FJRfG4fev0
— #ScaleUpEurope (@ScaleUpEuropeEN) June 7, 2021
Bonjour la France! Klarna is excited to bring smoooth shopping to France following our official launch there today. French shoppers can now use the Klarna app to pay in three interest-free instalments.
For more information please check: https://t.co/n1Mf6uHXBl pic.twitter.com/NApYmMMYsz— Klarna (@Klarna) June 8, 2021
Very excited to announce @joinvital pre-seed round led by @samuelgil & w/ great angels incl. @balajis @QwQiao @kschlenker @bertcmiller @gonsanchezs @adamgries @robertlufkinmd & many more.
At Vital, we are making health optimization easy & enjoyable.
https://t.co/3u5WTvVHbX— Mehdi Yacoubi (@Mehdiyac) June 8, 2021
Listening to something new is a great way to get those creative juices flowing. This episode of @tech_eu's podcast talks #HealthyEating and #RemoteWorking with Marcus Gners, co-founder and CSO of @Lifesum. https://t.co/T704i49POU #TechPodcasts
— Luminous PR (@LuminousPR) June 8, 2021
France moves to become a nation of ‘large tech companies’ https://t.co/3IEiORRe9b
— EURACTIV Digital & Media (@eaDigitalEU) June 8, 2021
So excited as a cofounder to be part of the launch of the European EdTech Alliance with some of the most passionate EdTech minds in Europe #edtech #EEA #europeanedtech pic.twitter.com/yBpYkQXUAP
— Beth M Havinga (@bethmhavinga) June 8, 2021
Well done Skand! Electrification of our roads is one of the key elements for sustainable city and countryside building – quiet, affordable, beautiful design, robust built (almost all sold Skand vehicles are still running to date, after years and years). What's not to like!? https://t.co/zUa4VOpDSa
— Reetta Ilo (@ReettaIlo) June 8, 2021
Luxembourg — which oversees the likes of Amazon and PayPal — has issued its first fines under the 3-year-old General Data Protection Regulation.
The six fines range from 1,000 to 18,000 euro, but we don't know who they target thanks to secrecy laws.https://t.co/9AQsY3AOV3— Vincent Manancourt (@vmanancourt) June 8, 2021
We are delighted to announce that #techUK’s Main Board approved the appointment of five new Directors from @Accenture, @Adobe, @HPE, @HuaweiUK and @Zoom along with 11 re-appointments. Read the full list of new appointments here: https://t.co/LOuwzNi4Na
— techUK (@techUK) June 8, 2021
Online #data is vulnerable to #quantum #hackers. @kets_quantum will keep you safe
Very excited to welcome the Bristol-based KETS team to our #deeptech portfolio!
We co-led a £3.1m round w/ @Quantonation & participation from @mustardseedmaze. More https://t.co/NRNk29Ww89— Speedinvest (@speedinvest) June 8, 2021
#FractionalLeadership is becoming more popular as companies in their early, developmental phases realize they have a "limited bandwidth and visible budgetary constraints." #Leadershiphttps://t.co/HgTnLaO8W1
— Al DaSilva (@AlDaSilva_) June 8, 2021
“We are on a mission to provide people with an effortless and deeply personalized way of eating, helping everyone reach their health goals and prevent the more distressing diseases." – @RealAnttoni, @veristable https://t.co/bZgtyh3R0O by @sensorpunk
— Anna Brchisky (@annabrchisky) June 8, 2021
We are stronger together!
Alongside #Bolt, @GlovoPolicy, and @woltapp we have pledged to make a positive societal impact!
We will work on a European model for platform work, with specific commitments and recommendations to governments.#likeheroeshttps://t.co/Ab4ZTuuOuf— Delivery Hero (@deliveryherocom) June 8, 2021
Sometimes, expanding to the US is the smart thing to do: Kaia Health's transatlantic tale - https://t.co/Kk4GLbYEFR https://t.co/COobPRmaz0 pic.twitter.com/hl8OQoRWGk
— Barcelona Health Hub (@BCNHealthHub) June 8, 2021
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