Happy Friday!
This week, the Tech.eu research team tracked more than 100 tech funding deals worth over €2.2 billion, and over 5 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 past, present, and future of Startup Wise Guys - with Cristobal Alonso
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).
What happened this week in European Tech?
>> Notable and big funding rounds
Finland's supply chain automation and optimisation platform Relex Solutions has secured €500 million in a new funding round led by New York-based Blackstone Growth, valuing the company at €5 billion.
Genesis, the London-based supplier of a low code platform for capital markets development, has raised $200 million in a Series C funding round led by Tiger Global Management.
Cashing in on the new trend to make the circular smartphone economy more accessible, Finland-based Swappie has announced a $124 million (€108 million) Series C funding round.
London-based makers of mobile games, Tripledot Studios has raised $116 million in a Series B round, now providing the company with a valuation of $1.4 billion.
Leonardo DiCaprio-backed MindMaze, whose virtual-reality software allows individuals to regain motion after strokes or traumatic brain injuries, has secured a $105 million financing round.
Parisian software-defined cloud interconnect services provider InterCloud has raised €100 million in a Series D funding round, and is now targeting a series of acquisitions.
UK fintech Atom Bank has raised £75 million at a £435 million valuation as it gears up for an IPO that’s “likely” to take place next year.
London’s impresario of all things paper, Papier has raised $50 million in a Series C funding round. While the ink on the investment dries, the bespoke sustainable stationery products producer will push forward with an aggressive international expansion plan, particularly focusing on the US.
London-based Gaia has raised $20 million in a Series A funding round via Atomico in order to further its mission of enabling more people to become parents.
Y-Combinator and eFounders alumni Multis has closed a $7 million funding round led by industry titan Sequoia Capital. The startups’ service is an all-in-one crypto finances management tool that works in concert with Gnosis, a highly trusted platform for managing digital assets on Ethereum.
>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Universal docking and charging infrastructure solutions for electric micromobility vehicles provider Duckt has been acquired by Silicon Valley-based Micromobility-as-a-Service ACTON for an undisclosed amount.
CoachHub, the digital coaching company, announced its acquisition of the coaching division of Klaiton, a leading Austrian consulting company with a robust online coaching platform.
Romanian fintech Pago, which offers an app to manage payments, announced that Mozaik Investments has acquired 51.12% of its shares.
Billtrust, a US-based business-to-business (B2B) accounts receivable (AR) automation and integrated payments provider, has acquired a fellow B2B paytech in the Netherlands, Order2Cash.
Copenhagen-based Cogo has acquired eScoot, a leading shared mobility aggregator in Central Europe.
>> Interesting moves from investors
To give a boost to the German VC scene, Munich-based early-stage and growth investor HV Capital has unveiled a continuation fund with over €430 million. The new fund, HV COCO Growth will enable HV Capital to support portfolio companies from existing funds and expand further.
So strong is the pull to the European startup scene that Venice, California-based VC firm Fifth Wall has announced the final close of an oversubscribed European-focused fund at €140 million.
French healthcare player MGEN, makesense and Serena Capital have joined hands to create an €80 million impact fund.
Cherry Crypto I is a new €30 million EUR crypto/web3 investment fund from Cherry Ventures.
Portugal-based early-stage VC Shilling has closed its Founders Fund at €52 million, with €22 million more than the primary announcement last April. Solely backed by private capital which includes powerhouse investors such as Atomico, the new fund reflects the growing momentum of the Portuguese startup ecosystem.
Swedish venture capital firm Wellstreet has launched a new fintech fund with an anticipated total of approximately $40 million. The funds will go to early-stage B2B and infrastructure tech companies driving efficiency in the global banking and fintech ecosystems.
Catering to the rise of the startup ecosystem in the Baltics, Estonia’s angel investors community Fund Fellow Founders (FFF) has been launched to source, challenge and invest smart in founders from the Nordics and the Baltics.
London-based early-stage investment firm AlbionVC has announced the appointment of Dr. Molly Gilmartin to its health tech investment team.
Early-stage deep tech and tech-heavy B2B software specialist fund Fly Ventures has announced the appointment of a new Partner, Marie Brayer. Paris-based Brayer, who formerly served at Serena Capital, now adds an extra layer of agility to Fly’s distributed team structure and will aid the firm in spotting emerging talent and leading deals dans La République Française.
>> In other (important) news
Google is expanding its Privacy Sandbox to Android devices and the UK’s antitrust watchdog is set to play a crucial role in ensuring that the tech giant does not abuse its market dominance in the process.
Apple has been fined another €5 million in the Netherlands after the country’s antitrust watchdog said the tech giant is applying “unreasonable” conditions to local dating app providers which want to make use of non-Apple payment technology in their apps.
Sweden's Trustly is set to hand out 120 redundancies and see four senior management team members depart as part of a restructuring process.
European Union lawmakers and countries could reach a deal by the end of June on proposed tech rules forcing online platforms to better police the internet despite differences in their approach, the lawmaker steering the negotiations said on Monday (14 February).
As the popularity of buy now, pay later (BNPL) rises, the United Kingdom’s financial regulator is asking these services to amend terms that could hurt consumers.
The Bank of Russia said it started the pilot stage of the digital ruble, its planned central bank digital currency (CBDC). It must become an alternative to cryptocurrencies for Russians, the regulator has said, which should be totally banned.
>> Recommended reads
European VCs are driving investment in Africa's exploding tech scene
The European Commission wants to build a €6 billion satellite system that can provide broadband internet communications and also help keep Europe's diplomatic and intelligence communications secure.
Startup Wise Guys mark a decade of discovering rough diamonds
Why you shouldn't ignore Europe's deep tech boom
European VC valuations continued to break records in 2021 across all stages as investors competed fiercely to participate in outsized rounds.
Accel And Index Ventures Are Still The Most Active Investors In European Unicorns
"The rise of AI could be a great British story. But let’s do it the right way."
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