Today in European Tech: The birth of Latvia's first unicorn, a 'buy now, pay later' acquisition in Prague, and more

Hello!

Here's what happened today in European Tech.

Deals

- Latvia-born Printful has landed $130 million in fresh funds via private equity firm Bregal Sagemount. With this funding, the print-on-demand company becomes Latvia’s first unicorn with a valuation of over $1 billion.

- Prague’s BNPL platform Twisto has been fully acquired by the Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Zip after it invest in the Czech company earlier, by purchasing the outstanding shares for a fee of €89 million.

- British AI tech company Faculty has raised £30 million in growth funding from the Apax Digital Fund.

- 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

- Russia’s internet regulator has threatened to slow down Google services in Russia if it does not comply with requests to delete content within 24 hours.

- In a new episode of the Tech.eu Podcast, we talk to Dominique Piotet, CEO of Unit.City. Dominique was born and raised in France and has spent many years in Silicon Valley — but ended up helping to build an enormous startup ecosystem project in Kyiv, Ukraine.

- A look at GDPR, three years since the introduction of the European data privacy and security law.

- Vienna’s hi.health has launched Europe’s first digital health account in an attempt to fix the private insurance cash flow gap.

Today's Top Tweets

I'm in the FT today on the CMA's proposals to stop Big Tech acquisitions.

Banning any deal with a "realistic prospect" of hurting competition would mean banning many procompetitive deals & hurt UK tech startups.

It's a mistake the govt should reject.https://t.co/QPhFodaiya

— Sam Bowman (@s8mb) May 24, 2021

Europe is suffering from an innovation perspective.
Instead of wasting tax money on advertising themselves on social & giving millions to "VC"s via EIF, the @EU_Commission should be wiser and incentivize private investors via tax deductions in deep tech https://t.co/IO0ycOlexg

— Erik Bhullar ( / ) (@ErikBhullar) May 22, 2021

One to watch: @EU_Commission will demand that social media giants change their algorithms — and show evidence how — to combat #misinformation in rules coming Wednesday, according to multiple sources https://t.co/wq0Wd44UZp

— Mark Scott (@markscott82) May 24, 2021

Here are Slovenia's digital priorities for its upcoming EU Council presidency:

Artificial Intelligence
Agreement among the 27 EU countries on:
— Data Governance Act
— Digital Services Act
— Digital Markets Act https://t.co/G2jm6ACIlE

— POLITICOEurope (@POLITICOEurope) May 24, 2021

Thanks for a great discussion, @nbrusson and @obrien: On The Road To Becoming The Intercity Transportation Super-App With @BlaBlaCar

Listen on
Apple: https://t.co/9ZIJUx7kzE
Spotify: https://t.co/U8Ug2SAh0r
⚓️ Your preferred podcast platform: https://t.co/Jxh1P23rRW

1/3

— Ξthan Pierse (@EthanPierse) May 24, 2021

Things are getting exciting!

We’re thrilled to announce the first judges for this year’s #20Under20:
– Sir @richardbranson, founder of @Virgin
– @roxannevarza, director of @joinstationf
– Our very own @taavet

Enter the competition https://t.co/FWv5byiUAK pic.twitter.com/xFtwvA3UJr

— Wise (ex-TransferWise) (@Wise) May 24, 2021

Investor insights with Antonio Avitable, @Sony Innovation Fund Europe, interviewed by @marycarty @Irish_TechNews News Podcast. ⚓ https://t.co/iAfcGH2yGs pic.twitter.com/0YuPA0csty

— Simon Cocking (@SimonCocking) May 24, 2021

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