This Week in European Tech: Cash influx boosts Milan startup scene, Fasanara inks $350 million fund, Visma moves into House of Control, and more

Here's a roundup of this week's biggest European Tech funding rounds, exits, 'other news' that you might have missed, and a compendium of must-read articles on all things #EUtech.
This Week in European Tech: Cash influx boosts Milan startup scene, Fasanara inks $350 million fund, Visma moves into House of Control, and more

This week, our research team tracked more than 105 tech funding deals worth over €2.2 billion, and over 15 exits, M&A transactions, 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.

Tickets are now on sale.

If you haven't seen them yet, 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 get 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?

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>> Notable and big funding rounds

As demand for mobile-first creator tools soars, Milan-based app developer Bending Spoons has now scored $340 million in funding to deliver pro-grade creative capabilities through apps that are intuitive and easy to use.

Milan-based mobile payment network Satispay has announced the raise of €320 million in a Series D round, at a valuation north of €1 billion.

Berlin-based all-things-tech rental platform Grover has raised yet another pile of cash, this time to the tune of €270 million via M&G.

Liberis, a UK-based embedded business finance platform has received an additional £140 million in financing from Barclays Bank and BCI Finance to support its global partner expansion and growth plans over the next two years.

Barcelona-based BNPL/fintech company SeQura has closed an asset-backed agreement with Citi for up to €150 million of senior financing.

Switzerland-based Velas, a startup building an open-sourced blockchain ecosystem of services and products, has raised $135 million.

Paris-based online brand food delivery industry solution Not So Dark has raised $80 million in a Series B funding round led by Kharis Capital and Verlinvest in partnership with Conviviality Ventures.

France-based business planning platform Pigment has brought in $65 million in funding. The new funding comes on the heels of its Series A and Series B rounds that totalled more than $100 million.

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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals

Norwegian SaaS company Visma, which offers a suite of accounting, payroll, HR, and other business software products to more than 1.2 million SME customers across the Nordic, Benelux and Baltic regions has submitted a bid to acquire contract management platform House of Control. The offer values ​​House of Control at €66.59 million.

eCommerce tech provider Attraqt Group has been acquired in a deal worth £63 million.

France's Sendinblue, the all-in-one digital marketing platform for small to medium-sized businesses, acquired Yodel.io, a cloud-based business phone solution developed in the US.

Bosch, a German multinational engineering and technology company, has acquired Eindhoven-based semiconductor company Ideas to the Market (ItoM).

Societe Generale has announced its plan to acquire a majority stake in PayXpert.

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>> Interesting moves from investors

London-based asset management and technology platform Fasanara Capital has announced the closing of its $350 million VC fund dedicated to finding the next-generation of global fintech and Web3 startups.

German private equity firm Deutsche Private Equity (DPE) has announced the close of its fund with €708 million.

Theta Capital Management, an Amsterdam, The Netherlands-based fund manager, raised a total of $500 million to invest in crypto-native venture capital funds.

The EU has appointed an external fund manager, Alter Domus, to lead its flagship deeptech investment scheme, after startups promised funding have been waiting on it for months.

Berlin-based venture fund Point Nine Capital has raised a new seed fund of €180 million to support B2B marketplaces and B2B SaaS startups.

Tallinn-based seed-stage venture fund Trind VC has announced the closing of its €55 million second fund to back startups that have a positive impact on the environment.

Meet Roundtable, a new startup backed by eFounders that wants to bring community-driven angel investments to European startups.

Berlin-headquartered venture capital platform PropTech1 has unveiled a €30 million fund to back transformative real estate technologies.

Sequoia has hired a fifth partner to be based in Europe.

Aviva has invested $10 million in a VC fund that backs female entrepreneurs in the fintech industry across the UK, Europe, Canada and the US.

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>> In other (important) news

Once unthinkable, mobile phones could go dark around Europe this winter if power cuts or energy rationing knocks out parts of the mobile networks across the region.

Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and 13 other European telecoms providers on Monday (26 September) made their strongest push for Big Tech to share network costs, citing the energy crisis and EU climate change goals.

TikTok is facing a £27 million fine after the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) provisionally found that the company breached child data protection laws for a two-year period.

The role of Neelie Kroes, the European Union's ex-digital chief, in lobbying for Uber will be investigated by OLAF, the EU agency that hunts fraud and misconduct in the EU institutions.

Revolut has been granted full regulatory approval to conduct crypto trading activities in the UK after a lengthy application process. Meanwhile, Crypto.com has achieved registration as a Digital Asset Service Provider (DASP) in France.

A number of fintechs have joined forces to develop and promote an open finance ecosystem in both the UK and EU underpinned by Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

Netflix has announced that it will be creating an internal game development studio in Helsinki.

Spain plans to issue “digital nomad” visas giving Britons and other non-EU citizens the chance to work in the sun and enjoy a lower cost of living with tax breaks thrown in for good measure.

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>> Recommended reads and listens

Big Deal: What's behind the merger of Instabox and Budbee?

Report: What 21 investors have to say about investing in Italian startups

Can BNPL for business take off in Europe?

5 great cloud companies to work for in Europe

In crypto havens such as Portugal's Meia Praia beach, the confidence in digital currencies remains undimmed even after this summer’s crash.

🎙️ The Drive at Five with Robin and Dan with Nick Stevens - Episode 8

The UK has “no chance in hell” of becoming technologically sovereign, Hermann Hauser, the co-founder of Amadeus Capital Partners and Acorn Computers, said at Bloomberg’s Technology Summit in London.

Why CEE founders move their startups abroad

The total value of Dutch pension funds’ private equity investments has exceeded the €100 billion mark for the first time ever, according to data from pension regulator DNB.

Investments made by business angel syndicate Archangels have generated £1.4 billion for the Scottish economy in the tech and life science fields, research has shown.

Tech.eu Summit - Best practices on scaling up tech businesses (featuring experts from GoStudent, Solarisbank and Showpad)

Inspiring the Good Future at Valencia Digital Summit

‘Silicon Valley of Europe’ meets the ‘Disneyland for SaaS’

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