These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, our research team tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth over €1.5 billion, as well as some 10 M&A transactions and related news stories across Europe, including Russia, Israel, and Turkey. Meanwhile, here's an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) Fintech startup N26 is raising $170 million a few months after raising $300 million. While it’s technically structured as a new round, the company considers today’s new funding as an extension of the Series D round, as it reaches a post-money valuation of $3.5 billion.

2) Germany’s FlixMobility (of FlixBus fame) has reportedly raised a $531 million venture capital round that values it at more than $2 billion.

3) Curve, the London-based “over-the-top banking platform,” has raised $55 million in new funding. The startup lets you consolidate all of your bank cards into a single Curve card and app to make it easier to manage your spending and access other benefits.

4) London-based SumUp, a payments technology startup, has secured a €330 million loan, backed by Bain Capital Credit, Goldman Sachs Private Capital and others to support its expansion plans.

5) Barcelona-based disruptor in the business travel sector TravelPerk has raised an extra $60 million as an extension to its Series C. The investment, bringing the total funding of Travelperk’s latest round to $104 million, will go forward new product additions and the company’s further European expansion.

6) IQ Capital, a venture capital firm focused on deep tech investments, has just announced the launch of its new $125 million Growth Opportunities Fund which will provide later-stage capital to outperforming companies in their existing venture portfolio. Along the launch comes the closing of IQ Capital’s third venture fund at $175 million.

7) MLU, Uber’s ridesharing and food delivery joint-venture with Yandex covering cities in Russia and surrounding regions, has acquired Vezet, a smaller rival, for a price that’s estimated to be in the region of $204 million.

8) Goldman Sachs and personal loan startup Lendable from the UK have reached a £200 million deal.

9) Paragraf, a Cambridge University spin-out that bills itself as a “graphene-based electronics technology company” has raised £12.8 million in a Series A round led by Parkwalk and joined by IQ Capital Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Cambridge Enterprise and unnamed angel investors.

10) UK-based apprenticeship startup WhiteHat has secured $16 million in Series A financing in a round led by Index Ventures with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures.

Podcast: tech.eu Podcast #126: Facial recognition rules in Europe, France and Britain bite back on big tech, the future of EU-US data flows, interviews with Lubomila Jordanova and Tim Schumacher, and more

Bonus link: Volocopter’s electric air taxi could be the mobility solution of the future: Q&A with co-founder Alex Zosel