These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday! Here’s an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) SoftBank announced its intent to acquire British chip designer ARM, the country’s biggest listed technology company, for a total of £24.3 billion (approximately €29 billion). Massive deal.

2) Spotify aims to go public in the second half of next year.

3) MasterCard has acquired 92.4% of London-based payment systems company VocaLink for about £700 million (approximately $920 million). VocaLink operates key payments technology platforms on behalf of UK payment schemes, including BACS, Faster Payments and LINK (the UK’s cash machines network).

4) An agreed $1.24 billion takeover of Norwegian online browser and advertising company Opera Software by a consortium of Chinese Internet firms has failed. Instead, the consortium will acquire only certain parts of Opera’s consumer business, including its mobile and desktop browsers, for $600 million.

5) Square has started up UK operations for its first European foray.

6) Rocket Internet’s Global Fashion Group this week closed a €330 million funding round at a €1 billion valuation, down from about €3 billion only a year ago.

7) Tech billionaire Peter Thiel has increased his investment in European fintech startup Deposit Solutions and backed another fintech startup (nextmarkets) from Cologne, Germany.

8) French music streaming service Deezer launched to the masses in the United States this week, stiffening the competition in an already-crowded market.

9) Berlin-based fintech startup Number26 changes its name to N26, and has obtained a full banking license to operate in Europe.

10) The French data protection authority on Wednesday ordered Microsoft to stop collecting excessive data on users of its Windows 10 OS and serving them personalised ads without their consent.

Bonus link: Can Europe innovate a way out of its ‘lost decade’?

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