Hello!
Here’s what happened today in European Tech:
Deals
– Insurance companies Clal and Migdal are expanding their investment in Israeli fintech company Pagaya. Together, they will inject $400 million into the company.
– Rapyd, an Israeli fintech-as-a-service company, has announced a whopping $300 million Series D round. The new financing will be used to double the engineering and product teams, as well as expand the platform’s “self-service” onboarding, a feature SaaS products usually depend on.
– According to Sky News, Deliveroo has hired a quartet of investment banks to help it serve up what could be London’s biggest stock market flotation of 2021.
– In what is likely to be the first German tech IPO of the new year, AUTO1, a platform for trading used cars, plans to list on the Frankfurt stock exchange. The Berlin-based company could be valued above €5 billion in the IPO, which should take place this quarter.
– Carne Group, the Irish company behind a global asset management platform, has raised a €100 million growth investment from Vitruvian Partners, a VC firm with headquarters in London.
– Munich-based Mytheresa aims to raise as much as $282 million in its US IPO, valuing the German luxury fashion e-commerce company at $1.58 billion.
– TravelPerk, a Spanish company that has grown into a global travel management platform, has acquired US business travel platform NexTravel to accelerate expansion in the US market. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
– French startup iziwork, creators of a platform to improve temporary employment, has secured $43 million in funding from Cathay Innovation and Bpifrance. Founded just two years ago, the platform has raised $68 million to date.
– A year and a half after Israeli software protection company Vdoo announced that during its series B round it raised $32 million, the company announcedtoday that it has extended that investment round by an additional $25 million.
– Endalia, a ‘human capital management’ and payroll SaaS software provider for mid-market businesses in Spain, has received a majority growth investment from Accel-KKR.
– Norway’s Visma has bought a majority stake in Poland-based fintech company inFakt.
– We also tracked a large number of (other) European tech funding rounds and M&A transactions, all of which we are putting in a handy list for you on Friday afternoon in our weekly roundup newsletter (note: the full list is for paying customers only). Also check out our European tech news section for ongoing coverage.
Worth Reading/Knowing
– In a case involving Facebook and Belgium, one of the EU’s top legal experts has issued an opinion that could presage a change in how effectively the GDPR — which allows fines that could run into billions of euros — is enforced. If the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) follows his advice, Big Tech could find itself facing more lawsuits, and perhaps more fines.
– As Telegram’s user base has swelled in recent weeks, its billionaire co-founder, Pavel Durov, has held private talks with investors to raise hundreds of millions of dollars — possibly in a convertible debt offering, ahead of an eventual IPO.
– Take-Two has allowed its offer for UK games company Codemasters to lapse, paving the way for EA to seal the deal.
– The European Commission has conditionally approved the acquisition of financial data products company Refinitiv by the London Stock Exchange Group.
– The European Investment Fund (EIF) is partnering with the European Commission, to announce €300 million of investments into the EU space sector, and has revealed investments into Orbital Ventures and Primo Space for starters.
– EU vs UK: How open banking adoption differs on the Continent
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