Today in European Tech: AUTO1 goes public with a bang, Applovin buys Berlin's Adjust, BigChange raises £75 million, and more

Today in European Tech: AUTO1 goes public with a bang, Applovin buys Berlin's Adjust, BigChange raises £75 million, and more

Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- Shares in used-car trading platform AUTO1 raced ahead in their stock exchange debut on Thursday, as Germany’s first big IPO of the year was snapped up by tech-hungry investors. The shares opened in Frankfurt at 55 euros a share, valuing the nine-year-old Berlin startup at €7.9 billion.

- Applovin, the mobile ad platform and games publisher that is rumoured to be going public in 2021, has acquired Adjust, the Berlin-based mobile advertising attribution company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although there a number floating around between $1 billion and $1.2 billion in a combination of cash and stock.

- Israeli website navigation company WalkMe has begun preparing to go public on Nasdaq.

- Private equity and venture capital firm Eurazeo has pulled in an additional €340 million from a group of international investors. These investors will form a new continuation fund to acquire a 32 percent stake in Eurazeo Growth assets, which were financed through the firm’s balance sheet.

- BigChange, creators of mobile workforce management software for the service and transport sectors, has raised over £75 million from Great Hill Partners, putting the company’s valuation at £100 million.

- Pellegrini has acquired Milan-based startup Mymenu, which delivers high-end food to Italian households.

- Storyblok, the Austrian startup behind an eponymous content management system (CMS), has raised an $8.5 million Series A round to fund international expansion. The investment was led by Mubadala Capital and joined by previous backers firstminute capital and 3VC.

- 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

- A leaked draft envisages the European Innovation Council handing out €602 million to startups and €507 million for targeted calls addressing specific areas of research in 2021.

- Robotics technologies in the EU could come under the scope of new rules as part of a series of efforts to ensure the safety of next-generation technologies.

- "Thanks to a surge in the last six months of the year, investors put more than €1 trillion to work in Europe's M&A market during 2020 for the fifth year running.” Check out PitchBook’s 2020 Annual European M&A Report.

- In one of the first prominent UK fintechs to announce its future working plans, Revolut says it will allow the vast majority of its employees to have permanent flexible working.

- Glovo, one of Europe’s biggest on-demand delivery players, has announced the appointment of Narek Verdian as Chief Technology Officer to help drive its ambitious tech strategy.

- Chris Bischoff, an experienced investor, has joined General Catalyst as Managing Director of its new London office.

- Swedish fintech scale-up Klarna says it's doing well in the US, including a record 15 million customers overall to kick off 2021.

- How Estonian defence company Milrem became a leading robotics developer in Europe.

- ManoMano, the French e-commerce platform focused on DIY, home improvement and gardening products, reported a stellar 2020 as the company’s gross merchandise volume doubled to €1.2 billion.

- Inside Logic Founders' new fintech startup studio.

- Finnish telecom network equipment maker Nokia warned of challenges to come this year as it tries to catch up with rivals after a strong finish to 2020.

- Space tech startups and investors meet for the IoT Tribe Space Endeavour finale.

- Digital Future Society has released its 'Faster than the future' book - featuring a chapter on supercomputing written by yours truly.

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