This week, our research team tracked more than 100 tech funding deals worth over €2.5 billion (including some debt financing deals) and over 15 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).
We've also got some news for you: we're already gearing up for the second edition of the Tech.eu Summit! Save the date: 24 May in Brussels. We have a super early bird offer running that gets you 2 tickets for the price of 1.
Also: we've made all the videos from the Tech.eu Summit last May available as a playlist on our YouTube channel - enjoy!
WIth that said, let's got down to business with 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?
-----
>> Notable and big funding rounds
Stockholm-based sustainable lithium-ion battery maker Northvolt this week announced the signing of a $1.1 billion convertible note. The company points out it has now secured close to $8 billion in equity and debt.
Yorkshire-based electric vehicle charge point operator RAW Charging has raised £250 million to accelerate its installation plan.
UK fintech scale-up Sonovate has unveiled a substantial securitisation deal with BNP Paribas and M&G Investments, adding £165 million to its funding.
France-based company designing a new industrial low-carbon cargo transport, FLYING WHALES has raised €122 million in funding.
Sweden's Ark Kapital, which facilitates long-term loans for founders using AI to predict the scale and growth of companies, has announced a €150 million extension to its Lending pool.
London-based insurtech company that combines life insurance, employee wellbeing programme, and rewards, YuLife has raised $120 million in a Series C funding. The round was led by Dai-ichi Life.
-----
>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Deezer went public, but shares of the French music-streaming platform plunged as much as 35% on its first trading day, in a blow to telecoms maverick Xavier Niel and luxury billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault, who made the company's market debut possible.
US-based Xperi has acquired Oslo-based OTT and hybrid TV solutions platform Vewd for $109 million in cash and debt to compete against the likes of Amazon, Google, Roku and Comcast.
Parent to kindergarten contact app and platform LiveKid has acquired its largest competitor in Spain, Dinantia in an all-cash deal.
Dutch business software maker Exact has stepped in and acquired Belgian maker of all things hosptech Horeko for an undisclosed figure.
London-based digital asset management firm that provides financial products and services for professional investors, CoinShares has acquired French-based Napoleon Asset Management.
-----
>> Interesting moves from investors
San Francisco and Berlin-based VC firm Headline has raised its seventh European fund of €320 million to extend its support to European startups from seed to Series A, with attention to follow-on fundings too.
Berlin, Munich and Paris-based VC firm XAnge has closed its fourth fund of €220 million.
Berlin-based impact VC AENU (ex-Pirate Impact) has announced the first close of its €100 million evergreen fund for impact startups.
Unconventional Ventures, a Copenhagen-based investment firm, has raised a new fund of €30 million to invest in underrepresented founders in Europe.
Creator Ventures, a London, UK-based venture capital firm investing in early-stage consumer-internet companies advancing how people interact, closed its first fund, at $20 million.
Most well known as the founder of the long-running Bucharest-based How to Web conference, Bogdan Iordache is now joining the growing trend of solo GP venture funds under the banner Underline Ventures.
-----
>> In other (important) news
EU lawmakers gave the thumbs up on Tuesday to landmark rules to rein in tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft, but enforcement could be hampered by regulators' limited resources.
The European Commission this week adopted the new European Innovation Agenda, with the research and innovation community saying it is ready to jump onboard to help make it a reality.
Germany’s competition authority revealed on Wednesday (6 July) its decision that Amazon is of “paramount significance across markets”, meaning it will be subject to the extended rules of market abuse control, as has already been the case with Google’s parent company Alphabet and Facebook’s parent Meta.
The same day, the UK’s antitrust regulator said it is investigating Amazon over whether the U.S. e-commerce giant is hurting competition by giving an unfair advantage to its own retail business and sellers that use its services over third-party merchants on its marketplace.
German online takeaway food company Delivery Hero and its Spanish business Glovo were raided by European Union antitrust regulators, putting them at risk of hefty fines.
Short-term accommodation services company Airbnb is obliged to provide information in rental contracts to tax authorities, an adviser to Europe's top court said on Thursday, in another potential legal setback in Europe for the company.
-----
>> Recommended reads and listens
"A New European Innovation Agenda": the 10 key elements from the EU's new plan to become a leader in deep tech innovation
How sturdy are Europe’s tech unicorns?
What do Europe’s leading founders have in common?
The 'European Tech Voices' report examines the strengths of the European tech ecosystem and the role of the regulatory environment in restricting and driving growth, based on views of Stripe startup users.
Brussels’ new innovation plan likely won’t meet startups’ demands
Europeans could be cut off from Facebook and Instagram as soon as September—and TikTok may be next on the block
The Missing Piece in Europe’s Chip Dreams
Inside the EU’s stalling startup investment scheme
Quantum ideas are born in Europe
Klarna’s dramatic drop in value and what it means for BNPL
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments