This week, our research team tracked more than 90 tech funding deals worth over €1.5 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).

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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

Berlin-based greentech Enpal has inked a €356 million debt commitment for the first German residential solar securitization.

Munich-based spacetech startup Isar Aerospace has raised €155 million in a Series C funding round that will see the company continue to drive towards the liftoff of its Spectrum launch vehicle. To date, the company has raised approximately €324 million.

Madrid-based International multi-mobility company Cabify has announced it closed a funding round worth $110 million to ‘accelerate its objectives’ as it drives expansion to more cities in Spain and Latin America.

Paris-based digital asset security firm Ledger has raised an additional €100 million in a Series C extension round.

Stockholm-based ArK Kapital has announced that it’s secured another €100 million in presumably debt funding from a rather secretive Swedish bank.

Danish climate and fintech firm Agreena, has announced a Series B raise of €46 million to further scale its soil carbon platform.

DataDome, which has built an AI-powered online fraud and bot management platform, has closed its Series C funding round at $42 million.

A UK company behind ‘autonomous agent’ technology has secured $40 million in investment. Fetch.ai, based in Cambridge, has been backed by tech incubator DWF Labs.

Paris-based AI biotech unicorn Owkin has launched a €33 million AI-powered precision medicine project, PortrAIt which has been backed by the French Government.

Norwegian humanoid robotics firm 1X, formerly known as Halodi Robotics has raised $23.5 million in a Series A2 funding round led by OpenAI’s Startup Fund.

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>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals

Emad Mostaque, the CEO and founder of open source platform Stability AI, hinted at plans to go public in the next few years.

The UK’s growth platform for tech startups and founders, Tech Nation is confirmed that it is very much in discussions with Brent Hoberman’s Founders Forum Group to carry on its legacy.

Satellite operator SES has confirmed it is in merger talks with rival Intelsat.

The entrepreneur behind one of Britain's biggest privately-held IT services groups is close to sealing its first cybersecurity acquisition with a recommended offer to buy London-listed ECSC.

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has acquired Amsterdam-based Th3rd, a 3D scanning firm, for an undisclosed amount.

Berlin-based GotPhoto, aka fotograf.de in its home market, has been acquired by EQT Growth for an undisclosed figure.

WPP, a London, UK-based creative transformation company, acquired Obviously, a technology-led social influencer marketing agency based in New York.

Ingenico has acquired SoftPOS vendor Phos for an undisclosed sum.

Equals Group has announced its expansion into Europe, via the acquisition of Oonex, a full-service payments institution licensed in Belgium, for a total of £4.1 million.

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>> Interesting moves from investors

US and UK-based venture capital firm SR One has closed £489 million for its second fund to invest in the biotech sector.

Paris-based VC firm Elaia has announced the close of its Digital Ventures 4 fund at €200 million.

Angels, the investment company belonging to Marina de Empresas, has recently invested in LifeX Ventures, a $100 million fund focused on extending the lives of people and the planet.

London-based Playfair Capital has announced its third fund at $70 million. The tertiary outing will continue to follow the firm’s low-volume approach, making only six to eight investments per year.

Polytechnique Ventures has unveiled its inaugural fund (€36 million).

The European Innovation Council has announced 32 companies have been selected to receive European Innovation Council (EIC) funding in equity and grant funding of which 40% percent have a female CEO, CTO or CSO.

London-based solo GP-driven Anamcara has announced the launch of its pre-seed and seed-focused fund at $10.6 million.

London-based No Label Ventures launched this week. It’s a VC firm doing European pre-seed and seed deals with immigrant founders and supporting them with visa requirements.

The European Commission has announced the appointment of Michiel Scheffer as the President of the Board of the European Innovation Council (EIC).

Tenity (formerly F10), the accelerator and investor focussing on fintech and insurtech, announced the first closing of its Tenity Incubation Fund I.

Alantra reorganizes its Investment Banking division to accelerate global growth ambitions.

Dublin-based start-up and innovation hub Dogpatch Labs has announced it has partnered with the Irish government and industry partners to create a new sustainability programme 2050 with a view to make Ireland a leading global platform in sustainability innovation.

Milltrust, a London, UK-based investment organisation focused on ‘Sustainable Prosperity’ across both public and private capital markets, launched the British Innovation Fund II, along with a dedicated venture investment platform, Milltrust Ventures.

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>> In other (important) news

Meta is planning to let European users of Facebook and Instagram opt out of certain highly personalized ads as part of plans to limit the impact of a European Union privacy order.

The UK government on Wednesday published recommendations for the artificial intelligence industry, outlining an all-encompassing approach for regulating the technology at a time when it has reached frenzied levels of hype.

The Italian privacy regulator Friday ordered a ban on ChatGPT over alleged privacy violations.

Google Cloud has accused Microsoft of anti-competitive cloud computing practices and criticised imminent deals with several European cloud vendors, saying these do not solve broader concerns about its licensing terms.

Apple won its appeal against the decision by Britain's antitrust regulator to launch an investigation into its mobile browser and cloud gaming services, the CAT ruled on Friday.

Virgin Orbit, the space-going arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has failed to secure additional funding and will be laying off 675 employees, effective immediately.

Salto, at one time touted as ‘the French Netflix’ has now ceased streaming operations.

Car services groups on Friday warned a stalled EU proposal to ensure fair access to valuable vehicle data could pave the way for unfair competition from US and Chinese tech companies.

Groupon, which today has a market cap of around $100 million, has appointed Dusan Senkypl, a current board member, as interim CEO. Senkypl will run the company… out of the Czech Republic.

The UK government has dropped its plans to produce a non-fungible token for sale through the Royal Mint, just under a year after it first announced the project.

Sustainable investment fintech Clim8 is shutting down and has begun the process of closing customer accounts.

Online car retailer Cazoo has posted losses of £704 million in its financial results, an increase of 30% from the year before, despite a sharp boost in revenue.

OneWeb has confirmed the successful deployment and contact of 36 satellites launched by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).

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>> Recommended reads and listens

Tech Nation, the champion of so much over so many years has published its swan song, the Tech Nation Report: How to build a scaleup, and it's one not to be missed.

How the European Champions Alliance is helping scale-ups maintain and foster innovation in Europe

Can Europe remain a space power?

A look at Sweden’s startup scene as Techstars drops Stockholm program

DigitalFoodLab released its annual report on the state of the European FoodTech ecosystem, providing an analysis of the biggest investments, changes in valuation and the growth of foodtech.

Why Europe struggles to scale its deep-tech startups

Can Europe Compete On Generative AI?

The continued rise of European venture

Why software engineering continues to be a safe career bet

Can Mastodon seize the moment from Twitter?

Arnaud de la Tour, CEO of Hello Tomorrow, shared insights on deep tech, sustainability, and the future of his organization.

Where does European insurtech go from here?

The total net economic impact of the University of Cambridge on the UK economy is almost £30 billion per year, which is almost four times greater than the contribution of the Premier League.

How European entrepreneurs can live the American dream

Germany Wants More Chip Makers, but They Won’t Come Cheap

Horizon Europe: Where does the EU now stand on international access?

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>> European tech startups to watch

Swiss startup Destinus is developing hypersonic green hydrogen-powered aircraft to fly you anywhere in the world in around four hours.

Mixergy wants you to only heat what you need and is now armed with an additional £9.2 million.

Finland’s Carbonaide has raised €1.8 million in Seed funding to kick start the manufacturing of carbon-negative concrete.

Essen-based talpasolutions raised a €15 million Series B round to expand its digital fleet and operations management solution offering and move from mining into other industries such as construction and logistics.

Cambridge-based Silicon Microgravity (SMG) has raised £1.8 million in funding, the first stage of a £2.8 million funding round, which will enable the commercialisation of its MEMS (micro-electrical mechanical systems) technology.

Bucharest-based Videowise has raised a $3 million Seed round to develop its video commerce technology stack further for omni-channel video shopping experiences.