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Today in European Tech: Hopin raises $400 million, Deliveroo picks London for its upcoming IPO, Xero buys Planday, and more

Robin Wauters 04 March 2021
Today in European Tech: Hopin raises $400 million, Deliveroo picks London for its upcoming IPO, Xero buys Planday, and more
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Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- UK-based virtual events platform Hopin has raised a $400 million Series C round from Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst and others at a $5.65 billion valuation.

- Deliveroo, the UK-based meal delivery company, has chosen London as the venue for a planned $10 billion stock market listing after the government committed to rule changes that will allow founders to keep more control.

- Wipro has reached an agreement to buy 22-year-old British tech consultancy firm Capco for $1.45 billion as the major Indian software exporter looks to win customers in Europe and Asia.

- Lilium, a German startup that’s making an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing passenger jet, is in talks to go public through a merger with a SPAC called Qell Acquisition Corp. Qell has begun discussions to raise new equity for a transaction to value the combined entity at more than $2 billion.

- Paris-based Quadrille Capital has announced a successful raise of €511 million in its fourth technology fund, “QT IV”. The oversubscribed round consisted of new and returning corporate investors and family businesses across Europe, the Middle East and North and South America.

- Xero has announced it will buy out Denmark-based workforce management platform Planday in a move to further grow its position in the small business market. The acquisition deal will come to a cost of €183.5 million, of which €155.7 million will be paid upfront.

- Workforce management company Papaya Global has raised $100 million in series C funding, taking the company’s valuation over the $1 billion threshold and making it Israel’s first woman-led unicorn.

- KKR has acquired an undisclosed minority stake in Nordic Bioscience, a Danish biotech business, for $100 million.

- Israeli fabless semiconductor Xsight Labs has announced the closing of its Series D financing round, likely to be more than $100 million in size, led by Valor Equity Partners and Atreides Management

- AI-powered, on-demand remote medical exam firm TytoCare has raised an additional $50 million in an oversubscribed series D funding round.

- Oxford-based Exscientia, a clinical-stage pharmatech that uses AI to design and discover new drugs, announced that BlackRock’s funds joined its Series C investment round, closing the round at $100 million.

- Over in Iceland, Brunnur Ventures is launching its sequel venture fund of $65 million.

- Predictive quality and yield solution provider Seebo has recently closed a series B funding totalling $24 million.

- Nextmarkets, a Cologne-based fintech startup, has announced closing a Series B funding round of approximately €24.9 million.

- Israeli AI image recognition Pomvom has completed its IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

- Mobility platform Bolt has recently received a €20 million investment from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group.

- 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

- The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has launched an investigation into whether Apple's terms for app developers are anti-competitive.

- EU antitrust regulators are also finalising a charge sheet against Apple triggered by a complaint by Spotify.

- Amazon has opened its first contactless grocery store in the UK today where shoppers can pick up their goods and leave without having to visit a till.

- France does not want to apply the EU top court’s decision on data retention. The French government has asked the country’s highest administrative court — the Council of State — not to follow the EU ruling.

- Revolut has officially launched as a bank in ten European countries, using its Lithuanian banking licence to do so.

- How EU students are being forced into a surveillance nightmare.

- Germany security officials are proposing that Internet companies should link a user’s real-world identity to all of their instant messages, emails and other online communication, prompting criticism from digital rights activists.

- Hot off the back of a mammoth $1 billion raise, Klarna has expanded its open banking offering into eight new countries.

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Today in European Tech: Hopin raises $400 million, Deliveroo picks London for its upcoming IPO, Xero buys Planday, and more
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