Happy Friday!
This week, the Tech.eu research team tracked more than 115 tech funding deals worth over €3 billion, and over 25 exits, M&A transactions, and rumours, and related news stories across Europe, including Russia 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, and now also comes in the form of a handy downloadable spreadsheet).
We've also published our latest podcast - have a listen!
🎧 The art and craft of building products and the companies around them - with Christian Reber, Pitch
🎧 Dev first security and why speed matters - with Guy Podjarny, President and Founder, Snyk
We've also announced a whole bunch of confirmed speakers for our upcoming Tech.eu Summit on 17 May in Brussels. Check out more info here and get your early-bird tickets now!
From the likes of European Commissioner Mariya Gabriel to world-record breaking pilot Zara Rutherford, investor Saul Klein, Veriff co-founder Janer Gorohhov, Sorare executive Gabrielle Dorais, Pitch COO Åsa Lidén and investors from firms like World Fund, Molten Ventures, Blossom Capital, Norrsken VC, we can't wait to meet them and you there in person!
Below, please find an overview of the biggest European tech news items for the past couple of days (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this round-up in your inbox every Monday morning). We're changing the format to make our curated roundup even more digestible and useful, feedback always welcome!
What happened this week in European Tech?
>> Notable and big funding rounds
UK-based online car retailer Cazoo has raised $630 million to support continued UK and Continental European expansion plans.
London-based fintech scale-up GoCardless has secured a Series G funding round of $312 million. This makes the startup the latest European and UK tech unicorn at a valuation of $2.1 billion.
In a market where competition and consumer expectations are continuously growing, French buy now pay later (BNPL) startup Alma has just completed a €210-million Series C financing round.
Zürich-based smart data capture firm Scandit has raised $150 million in a Series D funding round, now providing the company with a valuation north of $1 billion.
Offering fleets a turnkey electrification programme, London-based Zenobē Energy has secured “up to” £241 million in a, “first of its kind” debt structure.The firm is helping bus companies meet and adhere to legally binding climate change targets, and plans to use the new capital to finance up to 430 new e-buses in the UK and Ireland.
Parisian revenue-based financing platform Silvr has raised €130 million in a Series A round, with the capital to be used to further develop the “operating System for financing digital companies”.
Vivid Money, a challenger bank out of Berlin with 500,000 customers, has made a name for itself with a financial one-stop shop “super app”, and this week announced that it has raised €100 million in a round of funding led by Greenoaks Capital, with Ribbit Capital and new backer SoftBank Vision Fund 2 participating.
German e-commerce solutions provider Shopware has opened its doors to external investors, and in so much raised $100 million from Carlyle and PayPal.
Berlin-based digital healthcare provider Ada has added another $30 million in an extension to its Series B round, now topping out at $120 million. With the funding the company plans an aggressive US market expansion.
>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Apple appears to have acquired UK-based AI Music, a startup founded to build systems for generating music using artificial intelligence, and adapting existing tracks into new forms.
Scottish MarTech firm TVSquared has been snapped up in a £118 million deal. The Edinburgh company, led by founder and CEO Calum Smeaton, will join NYSE-listed Innovid in a deal which includes approximately £74 million in cash plus shares.
Dating app company Bumble is making its first acquisition with the purchase of fast-growing French Gen-Z dating app Fruitz.
Munich-based Apostera has been acquired by Harman, a subsidiary of global electronics giant Samsung. With the purchase Harman now adds Apostera’s lineup of augmented reality and mixed reality software solutions to its lineup.
Palo Alto-based all-in-one travel, corporate card, and expense management solution TripActions has acquired Berlin-based Comtravo, a travel management company serving the German, Austrian, Swiss DACH and Scandinavian regions.
>> Interesting moves from investors
Investment firm based in Paris and San Francisco, Lauxera Capital Partners announced the final closing of its first fund, Lauxera Growth I, at more than €260 million (approximately $300 million), making it one of the leading European funds dedicated to financing innovative health tech companies.
Life Science Partners (LSP), an Amsterdam-based investment firm that provides finance for life sciences and health care companies, announced that it has raised over €1 billion for its flagship fund LSP 7.
The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, and the Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, have unveiled a new €90-million fund for Irish startups.
Atomico supercharges Growth Acceleration offering with Director hires.
Netherlands-based impact investor Polestar Capital this month launched a €100 million circular economy fund – claiming to be the largest of its kind in Europe and backed by one of the country’s biggest pension funds.
In an exclusive interview with Tech.eu, leading Estonian tech investor Specialist VC (formerly United Angels VC) has announced the first close of a new €50 million fund at €42 million.
Vienna’s Speedinvest has announced the appointment of Deepali Nangia to the position of full Partner as of today. London-based Nangia’s promotion comes from within as she’d previously served as venture partner with the pan-European early-stage fund.
>> In other (important) news
SoftBank's record-breaking sale of a prized chip designer to Nvidia has officially been called off. At an initial value of $40 billion, the US chipmaker's acquisition of British design firm ARM would have been the largest semiconductor deal on record. But regulators around the world have long raised concerns about the deal, eventually leading to its collapse on Tuesday.
Europe’s most valuable fintech company, Klarna, is reportedly working on a fresh funding round that could see its price tag reach an incredible $60 billion. First reported by Bloomberg, the buy now, pay later giant is said to be courting “sovereign wealth and pension funds as new investors”.
The European Commission on Tuesday launched a multi-year, large-scale investment plan for its microchips sector and presented new powers to secure chips in times of crisis, in an effort to "make Europe a leader in this market," its President Ursula von der Leyen said. The Commission claimed “policy-driven investment” would total around €43 billion – “on the basis of announcements to date” – made up of both public investment and “leveraged equity support” - but with new funds very limited and high dependency on EU state contributions it may struggle to make its vision a reality.
Swedish price comparison firm PriceRunner said on Monday it was suing Google for about 2.1 billion euros, the latest firm to take legal action alleging the search giant manipulated search results.
Google does not sufficiently guarantee it protects European’s data gathered via Google Analytics, France’s data watchdog CNIL announced on Thursday (10 February). With Austria having recently issued a similar decision, the days of Google Analytics in Europe could be numbered.
Hopin, a virtual events platform often lauded for its rapid-scale growth amid the pandemic, has cut 138 full-time employees, or 12% of staff, as well as some contractors, according to TechCrunch sources.
France, Germany and a number of other European countries, the EIB and other organisations have banded together to launch 'European Tech Champions Initiative', aiming to create a “pan-European scale-up initiative” and fund-of-funds of €10 billion.
Google on Friday was targeted in an antitrust complaint by the European Publishers Council over its digital advertising business, potentially strengthening EU antitrust chief Margrethe Vestager's investigation into the issue.
The European Commission has adopted the 2022 work programme of the European Innovation Council, and in so much opens the doors to funding opportunities worth over €1.7 billion in 2022.
The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has accepted the revised commitments by Google relating to the way it uses customer data. Alphabet, the owner of Google, offered the commitments after the competition watchdog launched an investigation into the proposals by Google to ban third-party cookies that advertisers use to track consumers.
The European Commission announced Wednesday it's planning to propose a bill for a digital euro early next year.
>> Great reads and listens
European technology companies raised just over €12 billion in funding last month (aka January 2022) from more than 1,240 investors in total, across 450+ deals.
European cloud computing companies have raised the alarm over what they say is a “critical loophole” in the EU’s flagship plan to tackle anti-competitive behaviours by gatekeeping digital giants.
How Telegram Became the Anti-Facebook.
Amazon is now considered a grocer in the UK and will be subject to the same rules and regulations as other supermarkets, a decision the e-commerce giant called “chilling.”
Delivery Hero loses its pandemic lustre.
The godfather of massive satellite constellations is back with a new business—and a warning. Greg Wyler, a serial entrepreneur whose companies O3B and OneWeb helped tee up the rush of investment into satellites in Earth orbit, announced this week that he had raised $50 million for a new project, E-Space.
The European Union (EU) is analyzing the metaverse and the potential actions needed for regulatory control, Executive Vice President of the European Commission Margrethe Vestager said.
Greece's fledgling tech scene starts to take off.
Why Grover Landed In Miami And Shunned Silicon Valley For Its US Base
Russia finally moves to legalize the crypto economy.
UK tech leaders have called on government to ramp up efforts to overhaul listings rules after the owner of British chipmaker Arm indicated it would shun the London Stock Exchange in favour of a New York listing.
Dr. Amber Ghaddar and Bridget Greenwood are launching The 200 Billion Club to help female entrepreneurs navigate the process of pitching and fundraising.
Podcast: Devialet CEO Franck Lebouchard On Building A High-Quality Audio Future
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