This week, our research team tracked more than 95 tech funding deals worth over €9.6 billion, and over 15 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! and the 10 latest additions to the line-up!
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
Powerfield, a Netherlands solar company that develops, builds and manages "virtual power stations", connecting solar farms to external storage and EV charging, has clinched a €500 million structured equity and portfolio financing.
Just over one year since hauling down over $227 million in a Series E round, one that saw Fever obtain a valuation of over $1 billion, New York City-based, but with strong Spanish roots live entertainment discovery platform Fever has ordered up a new ticket in the form of $110 million.
Valencia-based entrepreneurship-for-all startup Jeff has raised $90 million in a new funding round comprised of a mix of equity and debt.
Challenger bank Zopa has landed £75 million in capital from existing investors and predicts it will reach full-year profitability this year as it eyes a London IPO once public markets have settled.
LiveMore, a provider of financial services to customers aged 50 and over, has secured a £250 million credit facility from New York’s Citi Bank.
London-based tech refurb/subscription platform Raylo has secured £110 million in a debt financing package provided by NatWest and Quilam Capital.
Amsterdam-based sustainable smartphone company Fairphone has raised €49 million in a new funding round led by new investor Invest-NL andexisting shareholder Quadia via its Regenero Impact Fund.
Franco-German spacetech The Exploration Company has raised a record €40.5 million in a Series A funding round led by EQT Ventures and Red River West.
UK fintech SaaS company Finbourne Technology has closed an up to £30 million debt facility from London-based lender Kreos Capital.
Venture debt provider Silicon Valley Bank UK has awarded a €30 million loan to UK-based SME receivables finance provider Liberis.
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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals
Italy-based TeamSystem, an enterprise software and training provider, has agreed a €70 million cash free, debt free deal to acquire the MailUp email and marketing suite from Milan-HQed Growens.
Berlin-based electric scooter sharer Emmy has acquired the German business of competitor Felyx.
Social Chain, a digital marketing startup founded by Dragon’s Den star Steven Bartlett, will be acquired by rival firm Brave Bison for an initial fee of £7.7 million.
Netherlands-based iMoto, a connected mobility company, has been acquired by London-HQed auto IoT solutions company ULU.
France-based cybersecurity auditor and consultancy Almond has acquired the entire shareholding of its Rennes-HQed peer Amossys.
Planet Sport, the Leeds based digital media group that specialises in sports and betting entertainment, has announced the acquisition of Tipstrr, a Staffrdoshire based marketplace for sports betting tips.
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>> Interesting moves from investors
Germany has unveiled a new €1 billion fund for growth-stage deeptech and climate tech companies, dubbed the DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF).
A new European VC collective called ImpactVC and comprising 120 venture firms, including Northzone and Balderton, will attempt to disseminate industry knowledge on leveraging ROI and ESG value from impact-led investments.
Warsaw-based PFR Ventures, a fund of funds that invests in venture capital and private equity teams, announced on Wednesday that it has invested €55 million in four green venture capital and growth equity funds under the PFR Green Hub FoF programme.
The EIB Group and the European Commission launched the InvestEU programme in Paris. The programme aims to unlock over €372 billion in investment across the European Union.
What do LPs look for in emerging fund managers?
Momenta, a Switzerland-based VC firm, in cooperation with the EU Commission, launched the Industry 5.0 Fund, a target $100 million venture capital fund.
Big Pi Ventures is creating a new fund of €50 million to invest in deep tech startups.
The global early-stage VC firm Antler has recently announced to have closed its first fund of €20 million in the Benelux in an oversubscribed fund.
Belgium has a new VC as Birdhouse Ventures debuts €20 million fund.
Signaling a clear vote of confidence to the European crypto community and crypto developers space, Kraken Ventures now has a Partner with 'boots on the ground' in Europe.
https://tech.eu/2023/02/03/spotify-founder-daniel-ek-takes-on-healthcare-----
>> In other (important) news
As a direct result of the DCMS grant withdrawal, Tech Nation will be ceasing all existing operations through a carefully planned wind-down and has commenced a redundancy consultation process.
The UK Government has floated proposals to bring crypto assets into the same regulatory regime as traditional financial services.
Glovo has released 6.5% of its workforce, bidding an emotional goodbye to 250 of its workers.
While the rumours have been widely circulated, it’s been officially confirmed that Spotify founder Daniel Ek is getting into the healthcare system business with his newest startup Neko Health.
Britain's Arrival said it was laying off 50% of its employees in a move that will help halve its cash operating expenses, as the electric-vehicle startup tries to ride out a cash crunch threatening its survival in the competitive market.
Washington and Brussels are stepping up their formal cooperation on Artificial Intelligence research at a crucial time for EU regulatory efforts on the emerging technology.
Euronext has launched its first European space-related index to track the performance of European companies in the space sector.
Philips, the global technology company, has announced plans to reduce its global workforce by 6,000 roles by 2025.
Sorare, the $4.3 billion fantasy soccer game, has signed a multi-year deal with the Premier League that will see the world’s top soccer league license official player cards.
Challenger bank Monzo has reported annualised revenue of £440 million up to December 2022, up from the £154.2 million in its previous financial statement published in February last year.
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>> Recommended reads and listens
As nations around the world scramble to secure crucial semiconductor supply chains over fears about relations with China, the UK is falling behind.
Although it was to be expected, or at least hoped, that the beginning of the new year would bring some changes to the European technology scene, the data our research team tracked showed otherwise. The trend that was noticeable when we summarized 2022, with all the drops in the second half of the year, unfortunately, continued in the first month of 2023.
"UK tech start-ups hasten overseas expansion after R&D tax cuts".
2023 and 2024 are set to become strong vintage venture years: here is why
Robots aren't representing us in court but here are 7 legal tech startups transforming the legal system.
Pioneers of early stage companies require better signposting to external funding, according to new research published by the UK's Venture Capital Trust Association.
TikTok is beginning to feel the sting of political and regulatory pressure in Europe, where the Chinese-owned app has largely evaded the scrutiny it’s faced in the US.
Andrew Fenton from Creatio, a global software company providing the no-code platform to automate industry workflows and CRM outlines the how, who, and why a no-code strategy is propelling European businesses forward.
3 European tech companies that are hiring right now.
Scaling startups showcase cutting-edge Industrial tech at The Sixth Sense Summit.
A new study has found that Germany successfully attracts students from all over the world to its artificial intelligence doctoral programmes – but then loses many of them to other countries, particularly the US, Switzerland and the UK.
The state of the UK economy: What do startups need to know?
Faced with a tight labour market and a shortage of workers with key software engineering skills, some German companies are looking at thousands of layoffs in Silicon Valley as an opportunity to recruit top talent.
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>> European tech startups to watch
Parisian customer engagement platform Cohort got supported by a fresh €3.2 million in seed funding driven by IRIS alongside Axeleo Capital, with Kima Ventures and 3founders, the web3 studio part of Hexa (eFounders) and others participating.
London-based Entocycle has raised $5 million in a Series A round that will see the company further invest in solutions that up the productivity and efficiency of black solider fly farms.
Throwing a lasso around the chaos of unstructured content, Instill AI roped in $3.6 million.
Billed as medical training's very own AI flight simulator, Manchester-based Re:course AI has locked down $4.3 million in seed funds to build foreign market share for its "generative AI" tuition product.
London-based startup Superlayer has raised $1.3 million in pre-seed funds to perfect its AI-driven sales workflow platform that enables deal pipelines to be qualified and deciphered in "seconds".
Cyprus-based work and knowledge management platform Fibery has raised $5.2 million in a Series A funding round.
London-based, automated coaching for simulation game players startup Titan Academy has raised $1 million in a seed funding round that will help the startup further develop and expand its racing games-focused offer in tandem with fleshing out plans to expand into new verticals, beginning with football.
France-based liquid hydrogen carrier developer HySiLabs has raised €13 million in series A funds.
Healistic, the UK's first business-to-consumer pharmaceuticals delivery service, has raised £1 million from unnamed investors to bring pharmacist-only medicines directly to the front door of UK patients.
Cologne's Specter Automation has raised €2.7 million in seed funds. The round was led by regional investor TechVision Fund.
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