This Week in European Tech: Wayflyer secures $300 million in debt round, Flink to buy Cajoo, Earlybird VC closes new €350 million fund, and more

This week, the Tech.eu (and Webrazzi) team(s) were in Brussels for our inaugural Tech.eu Summit (some imagery here, much more over here).

We’re over the moon with how things went – see you next year?

This week, our research team nevertheless tracked more than 95 tech funding deals worth over €1.8 billion, and over 5 exits, M&A transactions, and rumours, and related news stories across Europe.

As always, we are putting all of them together for you in a list sent in our round-up newsletter next Monday (note: the full list is for paying customers only, and also comes in the form of a handy downloadable spreadsheet).

Below, please find an overview of the biggest European tech news items for the past couple of days (subscribe to our free newsletter to get this round-up in your inbox every Monday morning).

—–

>> Notable and big funding rounds

Dublin-based unicorn Wayflyer, a company that provides revenue-based financing and growth platform for e-commerce businesses, announced on Monday that it has secured $300 million (approximately €288.28 million) in a debt financing round from J.P. Morgan.

London-based Thought Machine has raised $160 million in a Series D funding round led by Temasek. Through its big thinking software solutions, the startup helps banks and financial institutions transition away from legacy IT systems.

Antin Infrastructure Partners, an independent private equity firm focused on infrastructure investments, announced on Wednesday that it has agreed to purchase a co-controlling stake in Power Dot, a Portugal-founded owner-operator of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The value of the investment is €150 million.

Paris-based DiliTrust, a provider of SaaS solutions to help legal departments achieve excellence in corporate governance, announced on Friday that it has raised €130 million in a fresh round of funding.

Berlin’s zolar reports a quadrupling of customer inquiries in the past five months as rising energy costs see surge in demand for solar solutions, and has raised €100 million in a Series C funding round in order to meet and exceed this demand.

Grid Finance, a cash-advance lender to micro and small businesses, has secured a €100 million funding line from UK alternative asset manager Fasanara Capital as it targets expansion over the coming years.

London-based fintech credit and payments company MarketFinance has topped up with £100 million in a debt raise from Deutsche Bank.

Embedded payments platform Modulr has raised £83 million in a Series C funding round led by General Atlantic.

London and Helsinki-based e-commerce aggregator eBrands has raised $30 million to make Nordic players go global.

—–

>> Noteworthy acquisitions, mergers, IPOs and SPAC deals

Flink, the German rapid delivery startup, will buy its competitor Cajoo from France, which will give Flink access to the French grocery chain Carrefour.

The Treatwell group – a beauty and wellness site and app in Europe – has announced the acquisition of Wavy, the French SaaS company founded in 2016 by Clément Moreno.

Backed by Sofia’s LAUNCHub Ventures, mobile marketing platform Leanplum has been snapped up by CleverTap for an undisclosed figure.

—–

>> Interesting moves from investors

Earlybird Venture Capital has closed its seventh early-stage fund out of the firm’s Digital West investment team at a cap of €350 million – making it one of Europe’s largest early-stage funds.

London-based global private equity platform Lightrock, which backs purpose-driven entrepreneurs tackling the most pressing issues in the world, has closed a new $330 million growth equity fund for Latin America.

Manchester-based venture capital firm Praetura Ventures has closed its latest investment round, bringing the total raised by its enterprise investment scheme (EIS) fund to £100 million since its launch back in 2019.

Upfin, a new VC dedicated to supporting the Nordic fintech community, has raised €30 million to invest in early-stage startups across the region.

While last week was without a doubt the worst week for crypto asset performance in a very long time, it doesn’t seem to be stopping eFounders. The software-as-a-service startup studio is announcing that it is launching a new sub-studio called 3founders.

—–

>> In other (important) news

Google’s Russian unit will file for bankruptcy after authorities seized the tech firm’s bank account.

The EU and the US have edged closer to a common approach to artificial intelligence (AI) following the latest meeting of the transatlantic Trade and Technology Council (TTC), although their domestic strategies for regulating the technology remain poles apart.

Google is facing a new class-action style lawsuit in the U.K. in relation to a health data scandal that broke back in 2016, when it emerged that its AI division, DeepMind, had been passed data on more than a million patients as part of an app development project by the Royal Free NHS Trust in London — without the patients’ knowledge or consent.

Europe’s largest electric vehicle battery recycling plant begins operations.

Helsinki-based ArcticStartup, the organiser of Arctic15 and an independent technology company that reports on digital startups and growth entrepreneurship in the Nordic and Baltic countries, has raised an undisclosed amount in a bridge funding round. The round saw participation from several known angel investors, including US-based investor Gary Vaynerchuk, who has invested in the company for the second time and becoming the third-largest shareholder.

—–

>> Recommended reads and listens

Europe’s most influential tech players — ranked

‘Largest diplomatic capital in the world’: Brussels hosts first Tech.eu Summit

What’s next for the UK ‘futurecorns’?

Revolut’s $33 Billion Bank App Hits a Roadblock in Britain

London-based venture capital firms have come out on top for their ability to spot and invest in technology unicorns at an early stage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.