Google reportedly acquired the most European tech companies in 2014

In a new report examining startup exits, Tech.eu found that Google acquired the most European companies in 2014, a shopping spree that comes amid mounting regulatory scrutiny of the Silicon Valley giant.

According to the analysis by the European technology blog released today, Google acquired eight European tech companies last year. The more notable deals included paying about $390 million for DeepMind, and snapping up drawElements of Finland.

Google was followed by Microsoft, Russia’s Yandex, and Facebook. In general, U.S. companies represented 37 percent of all acquisitions of European tech firms.

Of course, while Google may be finding Europe’s startup scene more attractive for acquisitions, it’s also continuing to fend off a wide range of probes involving taxes, privacy, and user data. Earlier this month, the European Commission formally accused Google of antitrust violations and opened a second probe into whether Android was breaking antitrust rules.

As part of the analysis, Tech.eu analyzed 358 exits of European tech companies. While the majority of those deals were so small that the value was not disclosed, Tech.eu found that 125 deals were worth a total of $90 billion.

Other interesting takeaways from the report:

• Enterprise SaaS was the leading category for companies that had some kind of exit.
• Only about 40 percent of companies with an exit were B2C.
• Germany had the most exits, but the UK had larger ones.