Europe

Two-dimensional virtual event platforms such as Hopin, Cvent and Zoom have become staples of virtual events but these are about consuming content rather than “user activation” for brands. So in the metaverse, brands have turned to platforms like Meta, Sandbox or Decentraland for this kind of interaction. But, again, these are platforms built for consumers,

The credit-oriented fintech platform Liquidity Group, which funds later-stage technology companies, has announced a new raise of $775 million from private equity house in Apollo and MUFG Bank. In a statement Ron Daniel, Co-Founder and CEO of Liquidity Group said: “The new capital partnership with Apollo and the continued and successful partnership with MUFG is

To many people, e-commerce is synonymous with shopping on Amazon, but the reality is that a retailer has the option to use a bundle of different channels to sell and market products, and many do. Today, a startup called Productsup, which has built a platform that helps retailers navigate that landscape, is announcing $70 million

VPN usage has surged in the last several years, with growing concerns over data privacy and security — and sometimes completely different motivations like people wanting to access content otherwise blocked in their regions — driving an estimated 30% of all internet consumers globally to use a VPN at some point this year. Now Nord

Financial infrastructure startup Fidel API has raised $65 million in a Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures. The London-based company provides identity, data and payments products that it says gives developers a way to capture consent permissions and “securely” connect payment cards to a service or application.  “With this infrastructure, developers are

TikTok has once again delayed the timeline for opening its first data center in the European Union, in Dublin, Ireland — saying the facility is now not expected to be fully operational until next year. The video-sharing social network has been trailing plans to store the data of EU, EEA and U.K. users in the

In the latest spark from its fast evolving tech ecosystem, Spain’s scale-ups are banding together to lobby lawmakers and press the economic case for their high-tech, high-growth business model more broadly. The new lobby group, called EsTech (aka ‘Es’ for España), had its official launch last week — when it unveiled nine founding company members

Proton, the Geneva, Switzerland-based startup behind the eponymous E2E encrypted webmail service ProtonMail, has acquired French startup SimpleLogin, which offers a freemium, open source service for creating email aliases to let people shield their actual email address when they sign up for digital services. Paris-based SimpleLogin was founded back in 2019 and works as a

The political agreement reached late last month between the European Union and the US administration on a new transatlantic data transfers pact which aims to end years of legal uncertainty for businesses exporting data from the bloc is not yet a done deal. The deal in principle faces scrutiny in the coming months once the

The European Union’s planned risk-based framework for regulating artificial intelligence includes powers for oversight bodies to order the withdrawal of a commercial AI system or require that an AI model be retrained if it’s deemed high risk, according to an analysis of the proposal by a legal expert. That suggests there’s significant enforcement firepower lurking

Emmy Gengler Contributor Emmy Gengler is the CEO of Softjourn, a global technology services provider with offices in California, Ukraine and Poland. “The calls and texts started early, asking for power supplies and tools for fixing engines,” said Katia Ryzha, who lives and works in Ivano-Frankivsk, a small city in Western Ukraine. Since the war

Fashion rental platforms had a tough time during the pandemic as in-person events evaporated and office workers ditched their smarts to collectively slip into comfy loungewear (aka Zoom pants). But as the pandemic recedes (hopefully!) — and with growing focus on the environmental and social costs of fast fashion, the future for clothes rentals is

Last year, Visa surprised the European fintech industry as it announced that it would acquire Tink for €1.8 billion ($2.15 billion at the time of the deal). Klarna now wants to compete directly with Tink with a new business unit that has its own brand — Klarna Kosma. Like Tink, Klarna offers an open banking

French startup Deepki has raised a $166 million Series C funding round (€150 million). The company is building a software-as-a-service platform for the real estate industry. It’s a monitoring and analytics product that helps you take better decisions. Companies using Deepki can track and analyze ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria, starting with carbon emissions

Apple has dropped a requirement for a separate binary which it had sought to impose on Dutch dating apps wanting to take up a legal entitlement to use non-Apple payment tech to process their in-app purchases. Previously the company had argued that a separate binary was a “straightforward prerequisite” which did not impede its claimed

Six months after raising $250 million, Papaya Global is making a key acquisition to expand its cloud-based HR and payroll platform globally on the heels of major surge in remote working. The Israeli startup is acquiring Azimo — the London-based money transfer business that Facebook once tried to buy to spearhead its own remittance efforts —

The European Union has announced a new bundle of sustainability-focused policy proposals that will expand existing ecodesign rules on energy efficiency by encouraging longer product lifespans, supporting the growth of circular economy business models and helping consumers combat greenwashing and make more environmentally friendly purchasing choices, as regional lawmakers work to make good on a

When we started covering Builder.ai a few years ago, the startup was tapping into a new wave of businesses wanting their own native apps. The previous wave of agency-built and outsourced apps was waining, and Builder.ai realized it could tap into this trend by creating a turnkey, almost drag and drop approach, at least on

Talenthouse AG has made a name for itself as an aggregator of content creators, which is then commissioned by brands for their own social media channels. Brands just can’t seem to come up with the same kind of authenticity, so they farm it out in this manner. But business is going well, so Talenthouse is

Weaver, a London-based marketplace and SaaS contract negotiation platform for matching homeowners/architects planning major home renovation projects with vetted contractors, has closed a $4 million seed round to expand nationally. The round was led by European VC btov Partners, with participation from FJ Labs, Enterprise Fund (a syndicate of former Atlassian & Docker executives) and

Mobile dominates the world of gaming, with smartphone and tablet games generating $93.2 billion in revenues in 2021, more than console ($50.4 billion) and PC ($36.7 billion) combined according to gaming market research firm Newzoo. And that’s before you consider the thousands of popular apps out there that are not strictly games but rely heavily

Sourceful, an Index Ventures backed supply chain transparency startup, has fast-fuelled with a $20 million Series A around half a year after it announced a $12.2M seed round. The latest raise is once again led by Index, with Coatue and Eka Ventures also participating. The 2020-founded startup works with brands to shrink the environmental damage

The drip-feed of penalty fines for Apple in the Netherlands after an antitrust order about payment tech for dating apps has hit the maximum possible (for now) — reaching €50 million (~$55M) after the regulator issued a tenth consecutive weekly penalty of €5M for ongoing non-compliance. But the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is

The Family co-founder and CEO Alice Zagury has announced in a blog post that the French startup accelerator is suing Oussama Ammar for multiple claims — breach of trust, forgery and use of forgery. More specifically, Capital first reported that The Family suspects Ammar of diverting €3 million that were supposed to be invested in several

It’s consolidation time in the freelancer marketplace industry. French startup Malt is acquiring Comatch, a competing marketplace focused on consultants and industry experts. Comatch originally started in Germany, which means that Malt is also doubling down on the German market with this acquisition. Terms of the deal are undisclosed but it involves a mix of

The European Union has just announced reaching an agreement in principle with the US on a revived transatlantic data flows deal — potentially signalling an end to the many months of legal uncertainty that has dogged cloud services after a landmark court ruling in July 2020 which struck down the EU-US Privacy Shield. “We have

The European Union’s co-legislators reached political agreement on a major reform of digital competition rules late yesterday, which will introduce up-front obligations and restrictions (literally a list of “dos and don’ts”) on the most powerful internet giants — enforced by the threat of substantial fines and other types of penalties if they fail to meet

French startup Bigblue has raised a $15 million Series A funding round. The company operates an order fulfillment platform for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. In other words, a D2C brand can outsource all things related to logistics to Bigblue so that they can focus on product and marketing. Runa Capital is leading the round, with LPV

Late Thursday the European Union secured agreement on the detail of a major competition reform that will see the most powerful, intermediating tech platforms subject to a set of up-front rules on how they can and cannot operate — with the threat of fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover should they breach

A U.K.-based incubator focused on nonprofit startups that are addressing climate-related challenges through open-source data initiatives has announced the six startups which will be put through its 2022 program. Selected projects and platforms for the data-for-climate-focused accelerator program include a startup trying to prevent rainforest deforestation in Africa; one that’s hoping to help websites and