Europe

In the latest move by Russia to censor Western Internet services since it started a war by invading Ukraine, Google has confirmed that Russians are having problems accessing its news aggregator service, Google News, in the country. This follows an earlier report by the Interfax news agency which said the service had been blocked by

Just as sea breezes propel sailboats across the sea on Earth, solar radiation might one day be able to propel spacecraft between the stars. Or at least that’s the hope of French startup Gama. The aerospace company was founded in 2020 by Louis de Gouyon Matignon, Thibaud Elziere and Andrew Nutter, whose goal is to

Apple has been fined again in the Netherlands over an antitrust order related to dating apps. The order requires it to allow local dating apps to be able to use third-party payment technologies if their developers wish, rather than being locked to only being able to use Apple’s in-app payment API for iOS. Since January,

A lot of the startups you tend to hear about in the world of fintech are building solutions for consumers and businesses. Today, a startup that’s aiming to serve the biggest financial services users of them all — the big banks themselves and how they move money — is announcing a big round of funding

In a formalization of an earlier Twitter-led push to try to exert influence over fast-forming European digital regulations, the social media firm has used its Twitter Spaces platform to host the official kick-off of a policy advocacy lobby group that’s being branded the Open Internet Alliance (OIA). Alongside Twitter, video streaming platform Vimeo; Automattic, the

The European Union has proposed an interesting addition to its fast updating digital rulebook today: The Data Act slots into an already ambitious digital policy framework with the goal of bringing clarity and fairness around the sharing of (mostly industrial) data generated by connected devices. It won’t be the last word on this either, as

Last year I covered the launch of Berlin-HQ’d Revent — a new European early-stage with an “impact” focus — it was aimed to launch a €50 million ($60 million) fund to focus on climate tech, health, and well-being, and economic empowerment, backing startups with both “purpose and profit”. It’s now announcing the final close of

More money for casual job-matching in Europe: Zenjob, a marketplace platform that targets students looking for side jobs in sectors like retail, logistics and hospitality and promises to connect them with employers in need of temporary labor, has closed a $50 million Series D round of funding. It’s just under two years since the Berlin-based

Online language learning continues to be a huge opportunity for startups, with the most engaging experiences meeting a surge of interest from consumers looking for more productivity out of the hours that they spend on their smartphones. In one of the more recent developments, a language learning app called EWA — which has built a

Relocating employees can involve up to 20-30 different complex processes, while many of the support packages on the market can be inflexible and expensive. Plus, relocating services are usually only available to company leaders, not staff. But an even bigger issue looms over companies today: the ‘great resignation’ brought on by the pandemic, as employees

The Netherlands’ competition authority has once again increased a fine levied against Apple for failing to comply with an antitrust order related to payment tech and dating apps. The fifth penalty payment of €5 million issued today means the tech giant is now on the hook for €25M (out of a possible total of €50M)

Volta Trucks — the Swedish electric vehicle startup that believes it can build better urban delivery vehicles and other trucks that are safer and take up a smaller carbon footprint than their gas-guzzling, more clumsy, existing counterparts — has closed a big round of funding to help it through that last mile of work before

Further evidence of the booming Portuguese tech ecosystem is emerging today with the news that venture capital firm Shilling is topping-up its ‘Founders Fund’ to €52 million ($59M), with €22M ($23M) more than the primary announcement last April. Significantly for Europe where often VC funds are backed by the sometimes constraining European Investment Fund, this

‘Embedded commerce’ started with things like PayPal and has evolved with products like Stripe, many years later. But ‘embedded finance’ is appearing as a new wave in FinTech, with the likes of Contis, Solaris, Swan, and Stripe Treasury (not yet live in the EU). Indeed, you may recall that Angela Strange (of a16z) made the

French startup Multis has raised a $7 million funding round led by Sequoia Capital. Originally designed as a neobank for companies working with cryptocurrencies, the company has slightly altered its product vision. It now intends to offer the software layer that helps web3 organizations manage their crypto finances. Other investors in the round include Long

Apps like Calm and Endel are exploring an expanding new universe of what’s becoming known as ‘functional sound’. Calm and others are doing it in the meditation and sleep space, while Endel, which has raised $7.5m, creates ‘functional sound’ to enhance working or other activities. Now a new startup is launching what it calls ‘functional

Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister of the UK, has been elevated to new heights at Meta, the tech giant formerly known as Facebook — under a new title of president of global affairs in its senior management team. This is an upgrade on the VP of global affairs and communications title Clegg was

Finland-based Swappie refurbishes and resells used iPhones, taking care of the entire process, and selling the refurbished devices via its own marketplace, with a 12-month warranty. Back in 2020, it closed a €35.8 million ($40.6M) Series B to expand into new markets in Europe. It’s now raised a $124M (€108M) Series C funding round led

During the worst throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, very few people could travel. Meanwhile, both 2021 and 2022 were predicted to be the years of “revenge travel” where people would do a great deal more. Or at least plan more. In the background was a site that allowed people to travel virtually, either out of

The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) has called for a bloc-wide ban on the controversial Pegasus spyware tool, warning its use could lead to an “unprecedented level of intrusiveness.” Israeli’s NSO Group, the developer of the notorious spyware, claims to only sell Pegasus to governments for the purpose of fighting crime and terrorism. However, multiple

A coordinated enforcement action focused on public sector bodies’ use of cloud services is kicking off across the European Union. More than 80 public bodies in a wide range of sectors, including health, finance, tax, education and IT service supply and procurement, will face contact from local data protection authorities — ranging from fact-finding exercises

Banked is a FinTech startup that offers an alternative to card schemes. Consumers are able to pay without entering financial data, no need to create an account, no financial details are shared, authorization is biometric, and the merchant receives the funds in real-time. Businesses use it to drive customer engagement and loyalty with incentives and

Apple has been fined another €5 million in the Netherlands after the country’s antitrust watchdog said the tech giant is applying “unreasonable” conditions to local dating app providers which want to make use of non-Apple payment technology in their apps. Apple’s total fine, including earlier penalties for failing to comply with the regulator’s order, now

Gaia is a startup that is effectively out to ‘de-risk’ the whole process of IVF fertility treatment, using products like personalized insurance and payment plans. It’s almost BNPL for babies — but not quite. It’s now closed a $20 million Series A funding round led by London’s Atomico. Previous investors were Kindred Capital, Seedcamp, and

Papier, a startup leveraging technology to bring very non-tech products into the world, has raised some funding to continue expanding its business on the heels of strong demand for its personalized notebooks, planners, cards and other paper-based stationary that it sells online. The London startup has raised $50 million, a Series C that it will

Germany-based construction tech startup Cosuno has raised a $30 million Series B led by U.S. growth equity firm Avenir Growth. Spark Capital and Cherry Ventures, which led the Series A six months ago, also participated. Cosuno now says its valuation is put at $150 million. Construction is one of the largest industries in the world

There are plenty of competitors in so-called FMS (Farm Management Software), but so far no global dominant leader has emerged. Agrivi has raised $7.3M, Granular $24.9M and Farmlogs $37M. So there’s clearly plenty of scope for more. Now Estonia-based eAgronom, another FMS startup, has closed a $7.4 million Series A round led by Yolo Investments and ZGI Capital. Also

Google’s dominance of the online ad market has been targeted by another antitrust complaint filed in the European Union by a coalition of publishers. This time it’s the European Publishers Council (EPC) — whose members include the CEOs of News UK, Condé Nast, New York Times, Axel Springer and The Guardian, among others — arguing

The UK’s competition authority has accepted commitments from Google over how it develops the post-cookie future of interest-based ad targeting online under its self-styled “Privacy Sandbox” proposal. In an announcement today, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it is satisfied that the legally binding commitments secured from Google will ensure that the evolution of

Use of Google Analytics has now been found to breach European Union privacy laws in France — after a similar decision was reached in Austria last month. The French data protection watchdog, the CNIL, said today that an unnamed local website’s use of Google Analytics is non-compliant with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)