These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week
by Robin WautersHappy Friday!
Last week, our research team tracked more than 70 tech funding deals worth just under €900 million, as well as almost 20 M&A transactions, rumours, 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 last week:
1) One of the world’s biggest business events, Mobile World Congress, and its innovation sister 4YFN Conference, are no longer taking place this year. After the corona virus threatened to throw the events into chaos, organiser GSM Association (GSMA) has decided to cancel them, after more than a week of exhibitors and companies pulling out of MWC over health concerns.
2) Farfetch, a London-based global technology platform for the luxury fashion industry, has agreed to issue and sell convertible senior notes in an aggregate principal amount of $250 million. Tencent has committed to a strategic investment by agreeing to purchase $125 million of the notes, and San Francisco-based investment firm Dragoneer has agreed to purchase the other half.
3) UK-based digital bank startup Starling Bank has secured £60 million from its existing investors, Merian Global Investors and JTC, bringing the total raised to £323 million. Starling will award shares to all of its 800 employees.
4) N26, the German mobile bank backed by billionaires Peter Thiel and Li Ka-Shing, meanwhile said it will end UK operations citing the country’s departure from the EU. Blaming Brexit, the Berlin-based digital bank will close all its UK accounts on April 15.
5) Berlin-based music creation platform SoundCloud has received a $75 million investment from audio company Sirius XM Holdings two years after it was notoriously just “80 days from shutting down.”
6) Scape Technologies, the London-based computer vision startup working on location accuracy beyond the capabilities of GPS, has been acquired by Facebook, according to a regulatory filing.
7) Fenergo, a startup from Dublin that builds solutions for banks and other financial management companies to help with regulatory compliance, customer on-boarding and other “lifecycle management” requirements, has raised $80 million in funding at a post-money valuation of around $800 million.
8) Israel-based TLV Partners has closed $210 million in new funds; a $150 million early stage fund and $60 million opportunity fund for growth companies.
9) Oxx, the investment firm focusing on B2B companies from the UK, the Nordics, and Israel, has raised $133 million to invest venture capital in SaaS companies, from the point of Series A onward.
10) Klarna has acquired Italian payment company Moneymour, purchasing the startup from founders and minority investors. With the acquisition, the Swedish fintech company is establishing a product development hub in Milan and a foothold in the Italian e-commerce market.
Podcast: Tech.eu Podcast #155: Latest news, new faces of Slush, Valerann and smart roads
Bonus link: A Q&A with LendInvest co-founder Christian Faes on the fintech scene in Europe, Brexit and his post-CEO plans