This week, the first one of 2023, our research team tracked more than 115 tech funding deals worth over €1.1 billion, and over 20 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe.
As always, we are putting all weekly deals together for you in a list sent in our round-up newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only, and also comes in the form of a handy downloadable spreadsheet).
And don't forget: we're busy prepping for the next Tech.eu Summit, it's gonna be epic!
24 May in Brussels Expo
Still on the fence? Check out our first 25 confirmed speakers!
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
Paris-based neutral atoms approach quantum computing startup Pasqal has raised €100 million in a Series B funding round.
Oslo-based residential solar and battery installations marketplace Otovo has secured up to €120 million in funding via a mix of debt and equity shares placement.
Paris-based multichannel media company Welcome to the Jungle has raised €50 million in a Series C funding round that will see the guns not only aimed at Europe but additionally, the roses that are US shores.
German real estate company Vonovia, whose properties house 1.5 million German residents, will lead Austria-based sustainable homes developer Gropyus' €100 million series B round aimed at expanding the latter's prefab manufacturing plant.
Making smart thermostats sleek and easy to use, Munich's tado° brings home €43 million.
Tranch, a London-HQed provider of immediate invoice finance to pay SaaS subscriptions and other B2B expenses, has raised $100 million in seed funds and debt to expand activity in the US.
"I pity the fuel", says UK-based EV rental subscription service Onto, as it clinches £100 million loan deal.
Toulon-based cyber risk management firm Egerie has secured €30 million in a new funding round.
London-based enterprise metaverse developer Gemba aspires to build virtual worlds for corporate training. It's announcing a $18 million series A raise led by New York investor Parkway Venture Capital.
Stockholm-based AI platform that creates intelligent meeting notes, Supernormal has raised $10 million in a seed funding round that will see the company further expand its AI-driven offer whilst simultaneously upping the team headcount.
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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
HelloWork, a France-HQed provider of online job search, recruitment tools and skills training, is investing €50 million to conduct merger and acquisition activity.
Strava, the activity tracking and social community platform used by more than 100 million people globally, has acquired Fatmap, a European company that’s building a high-resolution 3D global map platform for the great outdoors.
Helsinki publisher Metacore has snapped up Supercell's village building simulator Everdale, which had been terminated by its original developer due to a perceived lack of quality.
Amsterdam-based Formitable, a platform to improve guest experience through loyalty and reservation solutions, and Zenchef, a Paris-based company that develops tech solutions for the restaurant industry, have joined forces to become a European leader in restaurant tech.
Dublin-based regulatory risk intelligence provider Corlytics has struck a €5 million deal with financial services firm ING Group to acquire the latter's regulatory monitoring spinout SparQ.
The London-based capital holding company Quadra Group has acquired a majority stake in Trackerbot which offers e-commerce automation software for eBay and Amazon sellers.
Dutch app-only supermarket Crisp has acquired Amsterdam-based meal box supplier De Krat.
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>> Interesting moves from investors
Highland Europe has announced the close of its fifth fund at €1 billion. The London-HQ’d fund focuses on investments in high-growth European internet, mobile, and software companies and have over €10 million in annualised revenues.
Nordics-focused LP firm, B2B software investor Monterro had no issues recharging cash flow for its fifth fund vintage, reeling in €150 million for the latest vehicle, G1.
The DACH presence of GP Bullhound is about to get larger thanks to establishing another two German locations, in Frankfurt and Munich, complementing its national office in Berlin.
Atomico announced the promotion of Principals Hillary Ball and Andreas Helbig to Partner level.
Continuing its streak of homegrown talent, Dawn Capital has a new partner in 29-year-old Forbes 30 Under 30 for Finance in Europe alumnus Dan Chaplin.
Ciao Italia! Founders Factory and Fastweb launched a venture studio and accelerator.
Manchester-based venture capital firm Praetura Ventures has appointed a previous Apple executive, a former Team GB swimmer and a CTO as partners.
Delfin Rueda has been appointed general partner and chief financial officer of Madrid early and growth stage VC Mundi Ventures.
FintechOS’ former VP of Marketing joined Underline VC as entrepreneur-in-residence.
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>> In other (important) news
Google will provide more transparency for consumers buying products through the company’s e-commerce platforms, such as the Google Store. The tech giant is doing so to comply with rules set by the European Union. However, the company still breaches EU laws on geo-blocking.
Spotify is letting go 6% of its staff in a restructuring that also sees chief content officer and advertising lead Dawn Ostroff heading for the exit.
SAP plans to cut 3,000 jobs, or 2.5% of its global workforce, and explore the sale of its remaining stake in Qualtrics, as the Germany software company looks to cut costs and focus on its cloud business.
Twitter is facing a lawsuit in Germany over its non-removal of antisemitic content, in a case that could have broader implications for users’ ability to ensure the enforcement of platforms’ terms and conditions.
Coinbase has been fined €3.33 million for providing crypto services in the Netherlands without securing registration with the country's central bank.
Solar-powered electric vehicle maker Lightyear said it’s halting production on its flagship Lightyear 0, its premium EV with a sticker price of €250,000.
European Union antitrust enforcers are planning to open an antitrust probe into Microsoft over its video and messaging service Teams.
Regulators have fined Glovo, the Barcelona-based on-demand delivery service, handing down a €57 million charge for alleged infringements pertaining to its Madrid delivery riders' employment status.
The valuation of Stockholm last-mile delivery company Instabee has taken a sharp knock.
Nokia signed a new cross-license patent agreement with Samsung following the expiry of a previous agreement at the end of 2022.
German customer journey software startup Zenloop and its founding squad of ex-Flaconi (the online perfume outlet) pioneers tried their hardest to make the product stick. Sadly, and despite venture support at seed and series A stage, it wasn't to be and German media is reporting Zenloop will close up having already entered insolvency.
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>> Recommended reads and listens
Generative AI is bringing the biggest disruption to film making in 100 years.
Europe's proptech startups are booming as they transform the way we buy, sell, and rent our homes.
Inside Britishvolt’s collapse: yoga, flash cars and broken dreams
Europe's deep tech startups closed off 2022 having brought in around $17.7 billion, down 22% on the year but still 60% above 2020 trends, according to a new data report.
UK tech urges Rishi Sunak to deliver a semiconductor strategy.
Some of the biggest names in tech have been shedding staff numbers by the tens of thousands in recent weeks, yet you keep spotting job listings … confused? Welcome to the world of ghost job listings.
Antler Partner Ronald Jan Schuurs weighs in on the current state of fintech and why journalists may be getting things all wrong.
Chris Sheldrick: How I Built what3words into a Multi-Million Dollar, Life-Saving Business
Plagued by supply chain woes and quality control issues, the once e-bike industry-leading VanMoof is showing signs of struggling to keep up.
Want to live longer? This Berlin startup aims to bring you back from the dead.
Ready, set, pitch. The five reasons to participate in VivaTech’s Startup Challenges
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>> European tech startups to watch
This week marked the official product launch of federated AI development platform Sherpa.ai, in a notable advance for automation that learns from multiple data sources without information ever leaving its original location.
Munich-based Hawk AI has raised $17 million in a Series B round aimed primarily at furthering product development and ramping up global expansion plans.
Flemish digital health startup Koios Care is working toward an AI that's trained to identify early signals of brain deterioration from a patient's everyday activity.
Founded by 21-year old entrepreneurs Peter Bæch and Jonas Gøttler, Århus-based food management SaaS Kanpla wants to tackle food waste from public canteens.
Viking Analytics, an AI in predictive analytics startup from Gothenburg, Sweden, has closed its series A round at €3 million with the intent of expanding overseas.
Humaans employee management platform simplifies HR and reduces costs for European Scaleups.
Irish digital pathology startup Deciphex extended its series B round to €14.4 million after raising €3.9 million led by Seroba Life Sciences and its existing investors.
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