This week, our research team tracked more than 95 tech funding deals worth over €975 million, and close to 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.
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
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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Evernote, the note-taking and task management app founded over 20 years ago, has been acquired by Milan-based app developer Bending Spoons.
Istanbul-based mobile gaming giant Rollic, Zynga and Take-Two subsidiary, has acquired Popcore, an independent mobile game developer based in Germany.
Artomatix, an Irish software company that has developed AI technology, which can automate the creation of 3D content, has been acquired in a deal believed to be worth up to $60 million.
Cornhill, the London-based FX provider, has been fully acquired by iBanFirst, one of Europe's largest providers of foreign exchange and international payments.
Oscillate plc has signed conditional heads of terms to fully acquire Hi55 Ventures, trading as fintech company Hi, in a reverse takeover.
Global communications firm Cision has acquired Factmata, a UK-based social and news media monitoring startup.
Nutracheck, a diet and lifestyle tracking and coaching app based out of the UK, was acquired for an undisclosed sum by magazine publishing group Immediate Media.
Regulatory reporting firm Regnology has acquired Belgian RegTech b.fine.
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>> Interesting moves from investors
London-based Index Ventures is reaffirming its commitment to helping founders get their ideas off the ground and prepare for the road ahead with the launch of its second dedicated seed fund, Origin II at $300 million.
Qualitas Energy, a European investment and management platform focused on renewable energy, energy transition and sustainability investments, has held a first close of its €1.6 billion target fund at more than €1.1 billion.
Announced at Slush this week, the EIC Fund, the equity investment vehicle of the European Innovation Council, has assembled its first batch under the Horizon Europe initiative, taking 35 investment decisions amounting to equity investments of €190 million.
The European Innovation Council also revealed this week that its shortlist for European deep tech scale-ups, the ScalingUp TOP50, accrued €527 million in new funding over the past 12 months.
Munich-based VC firm, VSquared Ventures has launched its newest fund – a €165 million early-stage fund aiming to support deeptech innovators addressing global problems.
Hampshire-based Simplyhealth, a health solutions provider, has launched its new venture capital fund, Simplyhealth Ventures, at £60 million.
Despite delays due to the situation in Ukraine, GR Capital's second fund raises €30 million.
VC Round2 Capital has achieved an inaugural close for its second fund, aiming to raise €100 million to provide loans to growth-stage software businesses.
Self-described “crypto-anarcho-eco-capitalist” Stefano Bernardi, who’s been quietly angel investing for the past few years from his home in the Italian mountains, has raised a new VC fund.
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>> In other (important) news
The UK government has blocked the takeover of the country’s largest microchip factory by a Chinese-owned firm over concerns it may undermine national security.
German machine translation startup DeepL is completing a major investment round led by Silicon Valley venture firm IVP that could lift its valuation to $1 billion.
There have been tons of lay-offs lately, what more to say? Just search for what's happening at European tech companies like Spotify, Typeform, Wayflyer, Hopin, UiPath, Juni, Jimdo, Pipedrive, Dance, etc. as things ain't looking pretty.
Sequoia-backed grocery startup Getir is reportedly close to buying its troubled rival Gorillas in a heavily discounted deal said to be worth less than $1 billion.
In related news, Just Eat Takeaway.com and Getir have announced a pan-European partnership that will see Getir’s entire product offerings integrated into JET’s listings and delivered directly via Getir drivers/riders.
Revolut has surpassed 25 million customers worldwide amid an expansive growth strategy which will see the super app launch in India, Mexico, Brazil and New Zealand in the near future.
London has lost its crown as Europe’s biggest stock market to Paris as economic growth concerns weigh on UK assets.
British food delivery app Deliveroo has exited the Australian market, citing “challenging economic conditions” and the “considerable” investment required to make the subsidiary profitable.
EU policymakers have reached a deal on the budget for next year, and with the focus squarely on tackling the fallout from the war in Ukraine and the energy crisis, research and innovation do not feature at the top of the policy priorities.
Brussels is to launch a new satellite constellation for secure connectivity
Online fashion giant Zalando has discontinued its pre-owned online store Zircle.
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>> Recommended reads and listens
Mass global job cuts at Meta, Twitter, Stripe and other technology giants are bitter news for their staff in Dublin, coming just before Christmas. But analysts said they were a “wake-up call” for the side-effects of Ireland’s over-dependence on big tech.
Elon Musk’s Twitter is on a “collision course” with Brussels, as the social media platform faces new scrutiny under landmark EU laws to police Big Tech that came into force on Wednesday.
As the world moves into economic headwinds and geopolitical uncertainty, European founders must get used to taking tough decisions to ensure the survival of their startups. That was the message this week at the Slush conference in Helsinki from Niklas Zennström.
Helmed by erratic new owner Elon Musk, Twitter is no longer fulfilling key obligations required for it to claim Ireland as its so-called main establishment under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Europe is currently too reliant on China for technologies and should be wary of this dependency, Finland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin said.
Ireland has raked in billions from tech giants. But what if the golden goose flies the nest?
A deep dive into digital bank N26.
Vauban's cofounders Rémy and Ulric lift the veil on their acquisition by Carta.
Balderton's "Founders guide to B2B sales"
Orange Ventures and Orange Fab work hand in hand to support startups while driving their own business interests. A perfect case of corporate-startup collaboration.
With new notions of quiet quitting and hybrid working, the old ideas of living to work and being chronically busy now seem outdated as the pandemic ushered in a new era of achieving work-life balance through a variety of means.
Sebastian Siemiatkowski, CEO and co-founder of the Swedish fintech, believes Klarna is getting unfair media coverage by media outlets compared to credit card firms.
Deloitte’s scale-ups ecosystem brings together different players, from governments and academia to investors, corporations, and, of course, startups and scale-ups.
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