This week, our research team tracked close to 100 tech funding deals worth over €2.4 billion, and more than 22 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 list sent in our round-up newsletter next Monday (note: the full list is for paying customers only, and also comes in the form of a handy downloadable spreadsheet).

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).

What happened this week in European Tech?

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>> Notable and big funding rounds

Parisian ‘seal of good earth keeping’ provider EcoVadis has raised just over $500+ million in an equity funding round led by BeyondNetZero and Astorg. The capital is reported to be used to further drive the company’s international expansion plans in North America and Asia, with M&A activities not ruled out of the question.

Amsterdam-based Perpetual Next, a company that produces renewable carbon, biochar, green gases, and green hydrogen from organic residues, announced on Wednesday that it has raised €320 million in a Series A round of funding.

Amidst market turbulence and downsizing spree, Prague's Rohlik rakes in €220 million.

Berlin-based digital coaching platform CoachHub has raised $200 million in a Series C funding round.

Proximie, a British healthtech startup, has raised an $80 million Series C round for its augmented reality tech which allows surgeons to advise on operations remotely around the world.

Amsterdam-based TestGorilla has raised $70 million in a Series A funding round. Leveraging an extensive testing library covering a wide range of job skills, the startups’ goal is to effectively remove unconscious bias in the recruitment process.

Allica Bank, the fintech challenger bank that seeks to empower Britain’s small and medium sized businesses, has today announced it has secured £55 million in additional funding as it continues to make significant gains in the SME banking market.

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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals

Software and services investor Hg has sold German digital care platform MEDIFOX DAN to San Diego-based ResMed in a transaction valuing the business at an enterprise value of around $1 billion.

Poland’s Grupa Pracuj has acquired German human resources (HR) software management firm softgarden from Investcorp for $125 million to strengthen its presence in Germany.

London and Stockholm-based mobile gaming startup King, which has developed games like Candy Crush, has now acquired AI software company Peltarion.

German fashion e-tailer Zalando has taken a majority stake in high-end streetwear platform Highsnobiety in a bet on the combined power of content and commerce.

Employee benefits platform WiiSmile has received an investment north of €70 million that will see Eurazeo become the company’s majority shareholder.

French video streaming software Broadpeak has listed on Euronext Growth Paris. The new development will allow the startup to scale its international presence and increase the size of its sales teams.

UK-based fintech startup Uncapped, which bills itself as Europe’s first revenue-based finance provider, has acquired finance provider for gaming and digital apps Sugar to gain a foothold in the gaming and apps market.

Milan-based visual asset management platform BOOM has acquired competitor LemonOne.

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>> Interesting moves from investors

Bonn-based public-private venture capital investment firm High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) has unveiled its fourth fund with over €400 million in commitments to fund early-stage startups in Germany. This remains the biggest fund unveiled by the company until now.

Project A Ventures, one of the leading early-stage tech investors in Europe, has closed its fourth fund with $375 million in capital commitments. The new fund, Project A's largest top date, which will invest from pre-seed to Series A in the most promising founders across the continent, brings the company’s total assets under management to $1 billion.

Dublin-based early-stage VC firm Act Venture Capital has raised €140 million in the first close of its sixth fund.

UK-based Founders Factory has unveiled a £100-million venture fund to give a boost to early-stage climate startups. Backed by the British media giant Sky, the Planet Fund will focus on broad sustainability themes, including decarbonisation, resource preservation, climate resilience and the circular economy.

UK-based alternative investment fund manager Shard Credit Partners has unveiled its maiden tech-focused £75 million venture debt fund.

Vienna-based venture capital firm 3VC has rolled out its second fund targeting a total amount of €150 million. This is by far the largest Series A-focused fund in Austria.

Estonian VC firm Superangel has announced a new €50 million fund, which will be used to invest primarily in deeptech startups from across the Baltics and Nordics.

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>> In other (important) news

Germany's Federal Cartel Office, the Bundeskartellamt, has initiated proceedings against Apple to investigate whether its tracking rules and anti-tracking technology are anti-competitive and self-serving.

UK ministers have announced a new digital strategy to maintain and grow the UK’s position as a leader in the tech industry, as fresh data from the UK Digital Economy Council names London as the second most valuable tech hub.

Amazon has offered to share marketplace data with sellers and boost the visibility of rival products on its platform, trying to persuade EU antitrust regulators to close their investigations without a fine by the end of the year.

Google, Facebook, Twitter and other tech companies will have to take measures to counter deepfakes and fake accounts on their platforms or risk hefty fines under an updated European Union code of practice, according to an EU document seen by Reuters.

Google parent Alphabet has offered to let rival ad intermediaries place ads on YouTube to address a crucial part of an EU antitrust investigation that could pave the way for it to settle the case without a fine.

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>> Recommended reads and listens

London has been ranked as the second-largest tech hub in the world, alongside New York, and second only to Silicon Valley. Further, the UK capital is one of the fastest-growing ecosystems in Europe.

Figures from Dealroom revealed that the UK tech sector raised a record £12.4 billion in venture capital funding during the first five months of the year. Globally, the UK was second only to the US in terms of the amount of start-up investment raised.

Skytrain takes flight to attract US LPs to Berlin's venture capital funds.

The InspiringFifty Europe 2022 award recognises the top fifty women excelling in tech careers across Europe.

Wirecard: A cautionary tale for fintech