Europe

Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles ($374 million) on Monday for repeatedly failing to “remove prohibited information” — content related to the country’s invasion and subsequent war in Ukraine. The country’s telecommunication watchdog Roskomnadzor cited a court order and said Google (particularly YouTube) didn’t take down content that discredited “the Armed Forces of the Russian

Facebook parent Meta’s been putting up a strong fight appealing the UK antitrust decision investigating and ultimately ordering Meta to sell Giphy, the GIF marketplace that it acquired back in May 2020 for around $315 million; and now it has gotten a small stay of execution: the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has sent the case

Much has been made of how European countries are, on the one hand, supporting Ukraine in its fight against the heinous and illegal invasion by Russia but at the same time remaining heavily dependent on Russian energy sources. Many countries in the EU — currently experiencing a heatwave — have scrambled to switch to alternatives,

Household cleaning chemicals in the form of a tablet that can be dissolved in water appear to have given rise to a number of startups. As well as Munich-based startup everdrop, there is also Atmo Home out of Berlin, as well as Grove Collaborative, Blueland, Smol, Spruce, Ocean Saver… the list goes on. Few, however,

Lightyear, a U.K. fintech startup that promises consumers commission-free trading on U.S. and European stocks, is officially extending to Europe from today. To power the expansion, which will see Lightyear land in 19 new markets including the Baltics and much of Western Europe, London-based Lightyear has also raised $25 million in a seres A round

A proposal put forward by European Union lawmakers in May, to establish a legal framework to make it easier to share electronic health records and other medical data — across borders and care institutions and with researchers and developers of innovative health products — should be revised to ensure citizens’ health data is stored locally,

Rhys Spence Contributor Rhys Spence is head of research at Brighteye Ventures, a European edtech-focused fund, where he works with portfolio companies to help address priorities, with a focus on internationalization and HR. More posts by this contributor European, North American edtech startups see funding triple in 2021 The unbundling of professional learning and entrepreneurship

Amazon has offered to limit its use of marketplace seller data and make changes to ‘Buy Box’ rankings in a bid to settle antitrust concerns in the European Union, the Commission confirmed today. It has also offered to revise how sellers can quality for inclusion to Prime; and allow them to choose their own delivery

Italy’s competition watchdog has opened an investigation into Google over concerns it has abused a dominant position by hindering data portability rights which are afforded to individuals under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The procedure follows a complaint made to the authority by the operator of a direct marketing platform called Weople.

Systemiq Capital, a backer of early-stage climate tech startups, says it has secured $70 million to kick off its second fund. The London-based VC aims to raise as much as $130 million more; that would mark quite a step up for the firm, which says it has funneled $30 million into 19 startups since 2018.

A major populist but controversial piece of UK legislation to regulate Internet content through a child safety-focused frame is on pause until the fall when the government expects to elect a new prime minister, following the resignation of Boris Johnson as Conservative Party leader last week. PoliticsHome reported yesterday that the Online Safety Bill would

Clearview AI has been hit with another sanction for breaching European privacy rules. The Athens-based Hellenic data protection authority has fined the controversial facial recognition firm €20 million and banned it from collecting and processing the personal data of people living in Greece. It has also ordered it to delete any data on Greek citizens

It has been a busy few months for Atomico, the European venture capital (VC) juggernaut founded by Skype co-creator Niklas Zennström some 16 years ago. After promoting three investors to partner back in April, it then brought in former Revolut and Uber executive Don Hoang as partner a month later. To cap off this frenzy,

The remittance inflows to sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade have been on an upward trajectory since 2020; last year, it increased by more than 6% to $45 billion. However, the steady rise of remittance inflows to the region hasn’t made this activity cheaper. According to the World Bank, sub-Saharan Africa remains the most expensive

TikTok’s attempt to switch legal basis for targeting advertising at users in Europe looks to be in trouble after Italy’s data protection watchdog stepped in and issued a warning of legal inadequacy just days ahead of the planned privacy policy change. The user-generated video sharing platform attracted attention from privacy experts last month when it

Global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation has announced its third fund, targeting €1 billion ($1.05 billion) at a broad gamut of companies and technologies around the world. With Fund III, Cathay Innovation launches what will surely be one of the largest multi-stage VC funds to emerge from Europe once it closes, encompassing series A, B, and

Last year we covered how Barcelona-based startup Impress had digitalized the area of orthodontics, raising a $50 million Series A in the process, somewhat aping U.S.-based startups such as SmileDirect. Usually, consumers can only access cosmetic teeth alignment or orthodontic medical treatments in conventional clinics. This new wave of technology involves 3D scans and panoramic

European insurance tech startup Wefox has raised $400 million in a series D round of funding, giving the German company a post-money valuation of $4.5 billion. This represents a 50% increase on last year’s $3 billion valuation at its series C round. Founded out of Berlin in 2015, Wefox sells various insurance products through a

Pensions, by just about any estimation, are a good thing. Ever since the U.K. government introduced auto-enrolment to the national workforce back in 2012, forcing employers to provide a workplace pension scheme by default (i.e. opt-out), this has led to more people saving toward their retirement. This policy change, however, means that millions of people

Despite multiple overtures by the British government to woo tech companies and keep the largest ones from defecting to the US, the latest example of the failure of this policy comes with the news that Australian software giant Atlassian is to move its HQ to Delaware, USA, in its search for what it calls a

Thousands of leaked confidential files reveal a treasure trove of sketchy and unlawful behavior from Uber. The Uber Files, which were originally shared with The Guardian and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, show a company that has knowingly broken laws, gone to extreme lengths to avoid justice, secretly lobbied governments, received aid from top

Just about every electronic contraption you care to think of contains at least one printed circuit board (PCB), which serves to house and connect the various components that allow the device to function as a whole. While circuit boards are mostly invisible to end-users, they are foundational to the world they inhabit, powering smartphones, automobiles,

One more hurdle up ahead for Activision Blizzard, the games giant behind Call of Duty that Microsoft is looking to acquire for $68.7 billion. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority has announced a formal investigation into the proposed deal. This opens the investigation up for feedback from “any interested party” ahead of the CMA deciding

One of the stunning facts that’s emerged over the last few years – especially as VCs and startups have turned their attention towards the climate crisis – is that our cities produce an enormous amount of CO2: in fact, buildings are responsible for around 40% of global CO2 emissions. But of course, the problem is

Delivery Hero and Glovo have been targeted for antitrust inspections in the European Union. The European Commission announced today that it has carried out unannounced inspections of a number of online food, grocery and consumer goods delivery businesses in two Member States — citing concerns over potential breaches of EU competition laws against forming cartels

Venture capital fund Headline has been investing in tech startups since — get this — 1999, which might tempt headline writers, perhaps unfairly, to apply the word “dinosaur,” if the fund hadn’t continued to remain so active since then. Suffice it to say, it’s been plenty busy since that “cretaceous era,” with 11 $1 billion+

The wheels of privacy enforcement are slowly turning against Facebook in Europe — where its lead data protection regulator, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC), has taken a key procedural step on a data transfers complaint whose substance dates back almost a decade at this point. The DPC confirmed today that a draft decision on the

YuLife originally made a name for itself in its home market of the U.K. for its new approach to the provisioning of life insurance: yes, sell a policy that provides financial security to your people in the event of your death; but do so with a focus on improving the policyholder’s current life with wellness

More antitrust scrutiny for Amazon in Europe: The U.K.’s antitrust watchdog has opened an investigation into Amazon’s marketplace on the same day Germany’s regulator has confirmed it can apply special abuse controls to the e-commerce giant. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the probe will consider — firstly — whether Amazon has a

The UK government has tabled an amendment to the Online Safety Bill that could put it on a collision course with end-to-end encryption. It’s proposing to give the incoming Internet regulator, Ofcom, new powers to force messaging platforms and other types of online services to implement content-scanning technologies, even if their platform is strongly encrypted