Happy Friday!
This week, the Tech.eu research team tracked more than 100 tech funding deals worth over €5.6 billion, and over 10 exits, M&A transactions, and rumours, and related news stories across Europe.
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 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
Billionaire businessman Sir Leonard Blavatnik is investing £3.2 billion into DAZN, with the British online sports media company exploring moves into NFTs, gaming and betting.
It's been a long time coming, but Italy now has its first unicorn in Scalapay as the buy-now-pay-later company raises $497 million in a Series B round.
The meal-kit delivery service in the UK just got tastier! Grabbing a fantastic share of the pie in this sector, London-based meal-kit service and profitable B Corp unicorn Gousto has received a $230 million secondary placing.
London-based fintech platform that provides retail investors with fair access to public markets, PrimaryBid has wrapped up a $190 million Series C funding. The round was led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
London-based cybersecurity company Red Sift has raised $54 million in a Series B round.
Berlin-based staffing marketplace that matches workers with temporary side jobs, Zenjob has raised $50 million in a growth financing round.
London-based automation startup that is helping life sciences rapidly innovate, diagnose and discover at scale, Automata is aiming to change this and has now raised $50 million in Series B funding.
French unicorn Aircall has received new funding from HubSpot Ventures as part of its reinforced partnership with HubSpot, a leading CRM platform for growing companies.
With the market for digital identity vendors poised to balloon to $53 billion by 2026, London-headquartered OCR Labs has raised $30 million, and now plans to take Europe and North America by storm.
Stockholm-based Depict.ai has raised $17 million in a Series A funding round led by Tiger Global.
>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Rebelle, one of the most successful online marketplaces for second-hand designer fashion, went public on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market in Stockholm.
London Stock Exchange Group has agreed to buy U.S. cloud-based technology provider TORA in a $325 million deal which it said on Tuesday will add digital assets to its trading tools.
London-based AI-driven cyber security platform Darktrace is acquiring the Netherlands-based Cybersprint for €47.5 million.
US recurring revenue trading platform Pipe has acquired London-based entertainment supply-chain financier Purely Capital for an undisclosed sum.
French publisher Nacon has announced it will acquire Daedalic Entertainment. The German publisher and developer is perhaps best known for the Deponia series and the forthcoming Lord of the Rings: Gollum.The deal is worth €53 million.
In the UK, the English charging infrastructure provider InstaVolt now has a new owner: Zouk Capital has sold InstaVolt to the investor EQT Infrastructure.
Bitpanda has announced its first acquisition in London-based Trustology. In so much, the FCA registered institutional crypto custodian wallet provider formerly known as Trustology will be rebranded as Bitpanda Custody.
Swedish online mental health treatment platform Mindler has acquired Finnish startup Medified Solutions to bring in better mental health for people.
>> Interesting moves from investors
London-based Backed VC is returning to the dancefloor with a €75 million seed fund and a €75 million follow-on fund. But with all the “human-centric” buzzwords attached, does the firm really live up to the promise?
To bring in a change from a linear, fossil-based economy to a sustainable, bio-based economy within which the European bioeconomy will play a decisive role, Luxembourg-based impact fund European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF) has raised around €300 million.
London-based venture capital firm Atomico has dismissed one of its most senior partners, Hiro Tamura, following complaints from staff over his management style.
Axon has set up its fifth fund, which focuses on innovative companies listed on European alternative stock markets.
Targeting investments in technology companies, Catalyst Romania has announced the closing of its second venture capital fund, reaching its hard cap of €50 million.
Chapter54: the first accelerator helping European scale-ups into the African market
32 Belgian entrepreneurs, operators, and industry experts have banded together to form a new angel investor syndicate, Syndicate One.
>> In other (important) news
The European Union (EU) is reportedly drafting regulations that could result in a ban on proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining across the union’s 27 member states.
Tech platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter will be required to introduce identity verification tools to help users block anonymous trolls online, under new plans announced Friday by the UK government.
Amazon, Microsoft and other providers of cloud and data processing services will have to set up safeguards to prevent non-EU governments gaining illegal access to EU data, according to draft legislation from the European Commission.
Northvolt plans to convert a closed paper mill in Sweden into a new battery-materials factory, adding a third production facility in the Nordic country to supply demand fueled by the growing electrification of transport. The plant is expected to start the first part of its operations in late 2024 and will employ as many as 1,000 people.
Netflix has signed a three-year agreement with French film guilds to invest a minimum of €40 million in the financing of French and European movies which will be released in French theaters.
>> Recommended reads and listens
Op-ed: Europe’s prosperity is being threatened by a growing financing gap
Solarisbank CEO Roland Folz on keeping the startup spirit amid huge expansion
Daniel White has put some thoughts together on the European early-stage VC funding gap from a founder’s perspective
VCs weigh in on Europe’s future in the critical deep tech market
In Europe, revenue-based finance startups are popping up like mushrooms
Confusion and bewilderment for Ukrainian startups following Russian invasion
Podcast: Ÿnsect CEO Antoine Hubert On The Insect Nutrient Revolution
The EU needs to close the east-west innovation gap and catch up with R&D investment levels in the US, if it wants the five research missions in Horizon Europe to succeed, according to a draft report by the Committee of the Regions (CoR).
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