Happy Friday!
This week, our research team tracked more than 110 tech funding deals worth more than €3.2 billion, and about 27 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 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).
This week:
1) Grover scores $1 billion in financing
Subscription-based consumer tech rental platform Grover has secured over $1 billion in equity and asset-backed financing. The fresh funding is expected to accelerate growth and help the Berlin company enter new markets.
2) Just Odoo it
Odoo — a Belgium-based provider of open-source-based business software that ranges from inventory management and ERP through to human resources and CRM software, marketing tools and more — has received $215 million from Summit Partners. This is a secondary investment that values the startup at over €2 billion (or over $2.3 billion at current rates).
3) Amazon quietly hit with record fine under Europe's privacy rules
Amazon has been issued with a fine of €746 million euros by the European Union for breaching the bloc’s data protection laws. The fine, disclosed by Amazon on Friday in a securities filing, was issued two weeks ago by Luxembourg’s privacy regulator.
4) Embarking on a near £400 million deal
Lloyds Banking Group has snapped up fast-growing digital wealth group Embark, which has over 410,000 consumer clients and £35 billion of assets under management, in an effort to “re-platform” its pensions and retirement offerings. The deal is worth £390 million.
5) Solarisbank inks fintech funding deal worth €190 million
Berlin-based banking-as-a-service platform Solarisbank has set its sights on conquering Europe after raising €190 million in a Series D funding round at a €1.4 billion valuation and buying UK outfit Contis.
6) Contentful pleased with $175 million funding round
Berlin-based Contentful has closed a $175 million funding round, now giving it a valuation of over $3 billion. The platform provides customers with an all-in-one hub to create and manage content, with speed and scale being the name of the game.
7) UK-based EV subscription provider Onto raises $175 million
Accelerating the shift towards electric mobility, the EV subscription platform Onto has raised $175 million in a Series B round. The company offers a UK-wide subscription that includes insurance and free access to over 11,000 charge points.
8) Algolia secures $150 million to scale up internationally
France-born Algolia has raised a $150 million Series D funding round at a post-money valuation of $2.25 billion. The company is best known for its search-as-a-service product. It lets you integrate real-time search in your app or website using a developer-friendly API.
9) Callsign secures £130 million from Abu Dhabi
London 'regtech' company Callsign is targeting 1,000 employees after raising £130 million from Abu Dhabi. Callsign will open two centres of excellence in the emirate following the investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s Innovation Programme.
10) To the moon! Isar Aerospace extends funding round to $165 million
Munich-based Isar Aerospace, a space technology company that offers launch solutions for satellite constellations, announced that it has extended its Series B round funding with $75 million to hit over $165 million. The extension was led by HV Capital, Porsche, and banking group Lombard Odier.
Podcasts:
Accel and its European strategy, with Andrei Brasoveanu
Entrepreneurship, diversity, and stepping up with Sarah Wood, co-founder of Unruly
Bonus links:
- The European Central Bank (ECB) has decided to pursue ambitious plans to establish a Digital Euro, at a time in which global jurisdictions seek to make the most of the rapid digitalization of payments. On July 14, the ECB announced that as of October, it will move into the two-year ‘investigation phase’ of its Digital Euro project, predominantly focusing on the design of the currency and the ways in which it could be distributed to merchants and citizens.
- If adopted, the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act will be the world’s most restrictive regulation of the development and use of AI tools, a report says. It will not only limit AI development and use in Europe but impose significant costs on EU businesses and consumers. The AIA will cost the European economy €31 billion over the next five years and reduce AI investments by almost 20 percent.
- Digital bank Monzo saw £114 million in pre-tax losses last year according to the company’s annual report for 2020–2021. The filings also revealed that Monzo’s accountants had “material uncertainty” over the company’s future, following on from last year’s warning, which posted “significant doubt” on its ability to continue.
- A group of senior women VCs in Europe is calling for more capital to go to female-led vehicles in an effort to boost women's interests in the investment community and help support female-founded startups.
- The importance of international scalability in edtech, according to Europe’s specialist VCs.
- Inmarsat, the UK’s biggest satellite company, plans to launch a constellation of low-earth orbit spacecraft and set up 5G wireless networks, joining a new space race against the likes of Elon Musk.
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments