europe News of 07/03/20

Growth Capital Investor Kennet Raises $250m Fund, Backed By Edmond De Rothschild

Venture capital is “not the only fruit” for entrepreneurs, as the often quieter ‘ Growth Capital ’ can also see great returns for entrepreneurs who prefer to retain a lot of ownership and control but are also willing to bootstrap over a longer ...

OurPeople, The Team Communication And Engagement Platform, Raises $2m

OurPeople , the U.K. startup that’s built a team communication and engagement platform for desk-less workers, has raised $2 million in Series A funding. Leading the round is Alpine Meridian, an investment firm that specialises in digital ...

Extra Crunch Is Now Available In Greece, Ireland And Portugal

We’re excited to announce that we’ve added Extra Crunch support in Ireland, Portugal and Greece. That adds to our existing support in Europe as we are already in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and ...

Portfolio Companies Of Startup Studio EFounders Have Raised $148 Million This Year

European startup studio eFounders has looked back at the first half of 2020 to share some metrics about its portfolio companies. The startup studio that is focused on building software-as-a-service enterprise startups has now launched 25 companies ...

Sophia Bendz Is Leaving Atomico To Join Berlin-Based Seed Firm Cherry Ventures

More personnel moves in European early-stage VC, this time it’s the latest career move of former Spotify global director of marketing Sophia Bendz, who is leaving Atomico to join Berlin’s Cherry Ventures. TechCrunch understands that the ...

Bolt Launches Electric Bike-Sharing Service In Paris

Bolt launches electric bike-sharing service in Paris image Like other ride-hailing companies, Bolt has been suffering from the coronavirus-related lockdown and economic downturn around the world. But the company is trying to find another revenue stream by launching electric bikes in Paris. Bolt plans to ...

TransferWise To Offer Investment Products But Has ‘No Plans’ To Become A Bank

TransferWise , the London-headquartered international money transfer service recently valued at $3.5 billion , has secured an additional license with U.K. regulators to enable it to offer investment products in the future. This will mean that U.K. ...

Dfinity Demo’S Its TikTok Clone, Opens Up Its ‘Internet Computer’ To Outside Developers

Dfinity appeared in 2018, amid the flurry of investments in the blockchain space, It raised $102 million in funding at a $2 billion valuation in a round jointly led by Andreessen Horowitz and Polychain Capital, along with other investors ...

E-Scooter Firms Get The Green Light To Start Trials Of Up To One Year On UK Streets

In light of COVID-19 and social distancing regulations, the UK has been working on making it easier for people to get from point A to B in cities without resorting to buses and trains or bringing more cars to congested roads, and today that strategy ...

SociéTé GéNéRale Is Acquiring Freelancer Challenger Bank Shine

Société Générale is acquiring freelancer challenger bank Shine image Société Générale is acquiring French startup Shine . Terms of the deal are undisclosed. According to a source, Shine is getting acquired for around €100 million in an all-cash deal (around $112.6 million). The startup had previously raised ...

Europe Restricts Travelers From The U.S. As America’S Coronavirus Cases Surge

The European continent on Tuesday reopened to visitors from 14 countries, but not the U.S., where some of the states that pushed hardest and earliest to reopen their economies are now in retreat because of an alarming surge in confirmed coronavirus ...

Willa Secures $3m From EQT Ventures To Let Freelancers Get Paid Immediately

Willa , the Sweden and U.S.-based fintech that wants to help freelancers request payment and get paid immediately for a fee, has raised $3 million in funding. The company’s founders are former early members of Spotify’s growth team and ...

Berlin’S DeepSpin Raises Seed Funding For Its ‘Portable, Ultra-Low-Cost’ MRI System

DeepSpin , a Berlin-based startup that is developing what it describes as a “next-generation, AI-powered MRI imaging machine”, has raised €600,000 in seed funding. Backing the round is APEX Digital Health, with participation from ...

Banking Platform SolarisBank Raises $67.5 Million At $360 Million Valuation

Despite the Wirecard fallout , German fintech startup solarisBank has raised a Series C funding round of $67.5 million (€60 million). Following today’s funding round, solarisBank is now valued at $360 million (€320 million). solarisBank ...

Exclusive: Survey Finds Startups Drifting Away From Offices, Post COVID-19

Exclusive: Survey finds startups drifting away from offices, post COVID-19 image Early-stage startups are confident of re-opening their offices in the wake of the COVID-19 within the next 6 months. But: there will be changes. An exclusive survey compiled by Founders Forum , with TechCrunch, found 63% of those surveyed said they ...

Extra Crunch Expands Into Romania

Extra Crunch is now live in Romania. That adds to our existing support in Europe in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and U.K.. There’s been reason to be bullish on Romania’s technology sector for some ...

Here Are The Winners Of The Europas Awards 2020 – Even A Pandemic Can’T Stop These Startups

Here are the winners of The Europas Awards 2020 – Even a pandemic can’t stop these startups image Last year The Europas Awards for European Tech Startups was held at a sunny garden party next to a historic museum in London. Last night, because of the global Coronavirus pandemic, it was held over Zoom. But the enthusiasm and success of Europe’s ...

Amsterdam Ejects Airbnb Et Al From Three Central Districts In Latest p2p Platform Limits

Another brick in the wall for vacation rental platforms: Amsterdam is booting Airbnb and other such platforms from three districts in the city’s old center from July 1, further tightening its rules for such services. In other districts in ...

Privacy Not A Blocker For “Meaningful” Research Access To Platform Data, Says Report

European lawmakers are eyeing binding transparency requirements for Internet platforms in a Digital Services Act (DSA) due to be drafted by the end of the year. But the question of how to create governance structures that provide regulators and ...

Wirecard, The Disgraced German Payments Firm Backed By Softbank, Files For Insolvency Over €1.3b In Loans Coming Due

The house of cards has well and truly collapsed for Wirecard , the German payments company that has been accused of accounting fraud. Today it announced that its German operation Wirecard AG was applying for insolvency proceedings in a Munich ...