This week, our research team tracked more than 90 tech funding deals worth over €1.1 billion (debt and equity), and over 20 exits, M&A transactions, rumours, and related news stories across Europe 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).

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?

-----

>> Notable and big funding rounds

SoftBank-backed solar power startup Enpal said Friday that it has raised €430 million in debt funding to finance its leasing business.

Kongsberg Digital, an industrial software company that claims to shape the future of work by changing how businesses design, operate and maintain their assets, has raised $90 million in a fresh round of funding.

Parisian business forecasting platform that deals with business strategy in real-time, Pigment has raised $88 million in a Series C round.

London-based start-up GetHarley is helping consumers get healthier skin with its global online gateway to ‘world-class clinicians’ and medical grade skincare products. The company has now raised $52 million in funding, in a round led by Index Ventures and includes Headline, Visionaries Club and Village Global.

London-based fintech company Amplifi Capital has secured £50 million in a debt funding deal with M&G.

Restructuring lifeline over for Oxford, UK-based Rockley Photonics as it emerges from Chapter 11 with $35 million in fresh funding.

Cambridge-based biotech startup Uncommon has raised $30 million in a Series A funding round. Formerly known as Higher Steaks, the startup will use the investment to further develop its unique approach to lab-grown lunch.

-----

>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals

CluneTech, an Irish-based tech firm, which owns a host of tech solutions focused on simplifying global business, has come to an agreement with U.S. multinational UKG, to acquire its global payroll provider Immedis, in a deal said to be worth over €550 million.

London-based Improbable has sold its defence division to NOIA Capital for an undisclosed sum.

British business-to-business cross-border payments firm CAB Payments is planning to list on the London Stock Exchange.

UK-based Odin Vision, a cloud AI endoscopy company has been acquired by Olympus for up to £66 million.

Latvian-founded Printful has acquired American e-commerce company Snow Commerce for an undisclosed figure.

Berlin-based and Sequoia-backed Bento has been acquired by category creator leader Linktree in a deal described as “a symbiotic relationship — a collaboration between an experienced category leader and a driven, curious upstart.” Terms, conditions, and figures remain undisclosed.

Bulgarian e-commerce logistics firm euShipments.com has acquired Romania’s e-fulfilment provider Helpship in a deal that will ensure new cross-border shipping services, faster transit times to to outlying countries in the region.

Estonian recruitment firm MeetFrank has acquired salary data app Compensation.app.

-----

>> Interesting moves from investors

Munich-based VC firm Yttrium, formerly known as Digital+ Partners, has closed its second growth fund at €403 million.

Antler, a Netherlands-based venture capital (VC) firm, has raised $285 million in a new fund for investing in growth-stage companies across the world.

US venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, a major cryptocurrency investor, will set up its first international office in London, at a time when US regulators have increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector.

🎙️Moving at angel speed without the traditional VC formality: Solo GP Sarah Drinkwater and her new £10 million fund

London-based deep tech VC firm, IQ Capital, has announced the final close of its fourth Venture Fund at $200 million, taking its assets under management to more than $1 billion.

The European Investment Fund is set to launch a €200 million fund to support European defense tech.

UK-based private investment firm Isomer Capital has announced the first close of its new €250 million Isomer Capital III fund.

There is a new secondary investment fund in town, well in Amsterdam. Arcven Capital is a Dutch-based fund aims to reach a total fund size of €80 million.

Swanlaab Venture Factory, a Spanish-Israeli VC firm focused on the deeptech industry in Spain, has announced the successful first closing of its second fund with an initial funding of €45 million.

Italian banking group Sella has launched an international incubation programme dedicated to startups focused on AI in finance.

-----

>> In other (important) news

In a bid to clamp down on disinformation online, the European Commission wants tech companies like Google, Facebook and TikTok to start labeling content created by artificial intelligence without waiting for digital laws to come into effect.

Spotify will cut 200 jobs from its podcast business in its second round of redundancies this year.

The UK prime minister is lining up a technology entrepreneur who co-founded the music industry business Songkick to spearhead a £100 million government taskforce set up to forge Britain's future artificial intelligence capability.

A top European court on Thursday ruled against restrictions imposed by Barcelona city hall on ride-hailing companies like Uber and Cabify.

The European Innovation Council’s (EIC) bespoke submissions platform for start-ups applying for grants and equity has been shut down with no prior warning. The Commission has blamed a contractual dispute but provided no further explanation.

France has signed off a €7.5 billion chip factory.

British electric vehicle maker Arrival is, by its own admission, teetering on the edge of survival.

IBM plans first European quantum computing centre in Germany.

A cross party group of MPs and Lords in the UK Parliament has called for urgent regulation of the cryptocurrency sector and the appointment of a 'Crypto Tsar' to coordinate the Government's approach.

Global payments platform for SMEs, SumUp has announced the appointment of Hermione McKee as Chief Financial Offer; she joins the firm from language learning platform Babbel.

-----

>> Recommended reads and listens

London-based investment giant Atomico has released a slimmed down 'State of European Tech' report, using data from this year to date to confirm what we already know: it's tough out there.

"Stability AI became a $1 billion company with the help of a viral AI text-to-image generator and — per interviews with more than 30 people — some misleading claims from founder Emad Mostaque."

Lithuania's thriving startup ecosystem is far more than fintech with thriving unicorns and changemakers aplenty.

"In Brussels’ renewed crusade on artificial intelligence, there’s a new question in town: Are you #TeamVestager or #TeamBreton?"

If you're looking for real change in tech you should be looking to Lithuania. More female founders get funding than London and its home to the highest number of female scientists and engineers in Europe.

Beyond Military Tech: Emerging trends in Ukraine's early-stage startup scene for investors to look at.

Scaling with soul: startups that find their ‘true fans’ will win in the passion economy.

How to keep the global growth engine going: A masterclass in scaling internationally from GetYourGuide, Atomico and Target Global (Tech.eu Summit video)

Austrian Speedinvest has published a report based on surveying more than 430 European investors to understand the state of European VC and startup ecosystem.

Following the release of Techspace's Scaleup Culture Report 2023, the company's CEO Jonathan Bevan offers up five tips on how to gel as a team while working at a distance.

"A UK Tech Plan: How the next Government can use technology to build a better Britain"

In an op-ed by Margarita Skarkou, Principal at 2150, she argues that adaptation methods are more than just a resilience strategy against the worst effects of climate change, they’re also an opportunity to snatch a business victory from the jaws of defeat.

Five things I learned using our startup’s product - and why other VCs should do the same

UK job vacancies remain steady as advertised salaries return to their post-pandemic peak.

-----

>> European tech startups to watch

Woltair raised €20.5 million to aid its expansion into Germany and the acceleration of the deployment of heat pumps and renewable energy in the residential sector.

Berlin-based payments platform Payrails has secured a seed extension round of $14.4 million for its end-to-end operating system that spans the entire payment processing value chain.

Amsterdam-based B2B payments platform Sprinque has raised a fresh €20 million in debt funding via Avellinia Capital.

Spectrm, a conversational AI platform, secured $6.5 million in funding led by 3TS Capital Partners for its next-gen messaging tool.

Aiming to enhance the performance of quantum processors, the US/Ukranian startup Haiqu has raised $4 million.

Paris-based start-up elba, a cybersecurity platform for teams, has raised €2.5 million in its first funding round.

Cargofive has raised €1.8 million to modernize freight forwarding, offering a streamlined platform for route optimization and cost-efficient quotations.