This week, our reseach tracked more than 105 tech funding deals worth over €831 million. On the other end of the spectrum, we saw over 10 exits and M&A transactions. 

As always, we've also indexed the most important/industry-related news items you need to know about, however, this recap is by no means exhaustive.

Our comprehensive brief, and its associated data, are available to our insights members via a weekly round-up newsletter and a handy .csv file allowing for even more in-depth analysis.

With that said, let's get down to business with the biggest European tech news items for the past couple of days. If email is more your thing, you can always subscribe to our free newsletter and get this round-up delivered to your inbox.

And now, the news.

💸 Notable and big funding rounds

🇧🇪 Belgium's open-source business software solutions scaleup Odoo raised €150 million as it presses forward with global expansion plans.

🇬🇧 In an overly saturated smartphone market with sales slumping globally, London-based Nothing has raised $96 million to deliver on its decidedly different take on what the device in your pocket can and should be.

🇬🇧 You're probably familiar with FBA aggregators, but how about Salesforce ecosystem aggregators? The UK's Unaric has plans to acquire 30-40 such companies in the next three years and has raised $35 million to do so.

🇮🇹 Peter Thiel backs Italian crypto assets exchange One Trading (formerly BitPanda Pro) in €30 million round as it angles to restore investor faith in the financial product.

🇮🇸 Iceland's Carbon Recycling International (CRI) raised $30 million to ramp up its renewable methanol from carbon dioxide and hydrogen production.

🫱🏽‍🫲🏻 Noteworthy acquisitions and mergers

🇩🇪 Following a bidding war, US private equity firm Silver Lake acquired a majority stake in Germany's Software AG at €2.4 billion and intends to delist the company ASAP.

🇧🇪 Belgian sports betting and gaming operator betFIRST acquired by Betsson AB for up to €120 million.

🇩🇪 KKR property Ness Digital Engineering acquired Berlin venture builder MVP Factory.

🇩🇪/🇨🇭 Terra Quantum acquired data analysis and optimisation specialist divis.

🇫🇮 Helsinki-based Silo AI acquired Amsterdam’s Machine2Learn to go big in Benelux and Western Europe.

🇬🇧 Starting out life as an offshoot of a project for the Ministry of Defence, Cambridge-based media management firm Imagen has been acquired by Thomson Reuters.

🚀 Interesting moves from investors

🇬🇧/🇺🇸/🇮🇳/🇫🇷 Early backers of Datadog, DeliveryHero, and Cred, RTP Global is back with its biggest fund to date at $1 billion. Although the firm has Russian roots, it's been outspoken about no longer investing in Russian companies.

🇵🇱 Supporting early-stage CEE region startups, Warsaw-based Inovo closed its third fund at €105 million.

🇫🇷 Parisian seed fund dedicated solely to French startups, Frst announced the first close of a targeted €100 million fund at €72 million. According to the firm, this makes them the largest of their kind with over €200 million in assets managed or advised.

🇬🇧 Fuel Ventures has a fresh £100 million in hand and wants to deploy it across more than 60 UK companies over the next 12 months.

🇱🇺 Luxembourg-based life sciences-focused VC firm Vesalius Biocapital announced the first close of its fourth fund at over €95 million.

🗞️ In other (important) news

🇩🇪 AI firm Aleph Alpha is reportedly due to receive €100 million via Intel, Nvidia and SAP, Earlybird, and 468 Capital.

🇩🇪 Tesla is rumored to be purchasing German electric vehicle (EV) wireless charging company Wiferion.

🇪🇸 Following a retreat from France, it looks like Turkish food delivery startup Getir is getting out of Spain.

🇪🇺 The European Union unveils new open banking rules.

🇬🇧 Citing a vibrant technology ecosystem and an exceptional talent pool, OpenAI chooses London for its first international expansion.

🇪🇺 The European Union is introducing “crash test” systems for artificial intelligence to ensure new innovations are safe before they hit the market.

🇮🇪 The Irish government wants to make Big Tech privacy cases more confidential. Civil liberties advocates are furious.

🇪🇺 Two French Members of the European Parliament want to kickstart a European regulation of online commercial influencers.

🇬🇧 British merchants are increasingly using facial recognition technology to combat shoplifting, raising questions about its spread as artificial intelligence rapidly improves it.

🇳🇱 After the company raised €49 million in early February, Fairphone's CEO Eva Gouwens is stepping down.

📡 Recommended reads and listens

🇪🇺 According to a report from ESG_VC and BVCA, the environmental agenda is lagging in startups.

🇩🇪 The Web3 data economy proves its value with monetised crowd-sourced map data

🇬🇧 Generative AI systems such as those powering advanced chatbot ChatGPT could provide a £31 billion boost to the UK economy.

🇪🇺 Europe dominates in Climate Fintech funding despite overall funding slump in 2022

🇪🇺 As countries scramble to deal with the risks and rewards of AI, the European Union is way ahead on the first laws regulating artificial intelligence. Here’s what’s really in the new AI Act.

🇩🇪 In drug discovery, milk is the future of mental health treatment.

🇩🇪 Gloria Bäuerlein on her solo fund: "The most difficult thing was opening a bank account".

🇪🇺 The EU hopes its Data Act will propel its industrial data economy. Critics think it’ll hurt more than help.

🤖 10 European robotics startups revolutionising the future.

🔭 European tech startups to watch

🇩🇪 Making sure there’s plenty more fish left in the sea, BLUU Seafood raised €16 million to cultivate real fish without the cull.

🇫🇮 With a fresh €13.7 million in hand, Algorithmiq is poised to access the inaccessible in the world of drug discovery and development.

🇩🇪 At just nine months old, Greenlyte Carbon Technologies has raised a total of €8 million and is working on capturing CO2 whilst supplying hydrogen as a by-product.

🇪🇪 Vok Bikes raised €3.8 million to push the delivery of its electric cargo bikes across Europe.

🇮🇹 Planckian raised €2.7 million to develop quantum batteries.

🇫🇮 VTT spinout Steady Energy raised €2 million and wants to use a low-temperature, low-pressure nuclear reactor to heat your home.