Microsoft invests in Denmark
Pledges to support the skills development of 200,000 people by 2024
But first, picture this …
The first phase of construction in Copenhagen - by the YesHealth Group and Nordic Harvest - of what will be Europe’s largest ‘vertical farm’, employing robotics, hydroponics, 20,000 LEDs and software processing more than 5000 data points , has been completed. [S: Business Wire]
News
Microsoft invests in Denmark
Microsoft has chosen Denmark as the location for its next ‘sustainable datacenter region’ and pledged to support the skills development of 200,000 people by 2024.
The company currently employs more than a thousand people in the country and recently invested in a quantum computing research lab, in collaboration with the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark.
“This is a proud day for Microsoft in Denmark,” said Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president. “Building a hyper-scale datacenter in Denmark means we’ll store Danish data in Denmark, make computing more accessible at even faster speeds, secure data with our world-class security, protect data with Danish privacy laws, and do more to provide to the people of Denmark our best digital skills training.”
Nicolai Wammen, Denmark’s Minister of Finance, said: “The Government’s ambition is for Denmark to emerge from COVID-19 even greener, stronger and more socially just. We have initiated a green recovery of the Danish economy and launched a new strategy for green public procurement, contributing towards our ambitious climate targets.
“Today, datacenters and IT solutions represent a considerable part of carbon emissions from public procurement in Denmark, so we see a big potential to reduce our climate footprint. I’m pleased to see that businesses are embracing the government’s climate ambitions and taking responsibility for creating a green, digital future.”
Hundreds of Danish enterprises and public organisations such as Arla Foods, Carlsberg, Coop, Danfoss, Energinet, Grundfos, Pandora, Maersk, Saxo Bank,Simcorp, and The Danish Ministry of Taxation already rely on the Microsoft Cloud to power business applications, new customer experiences and data solutions.
Microsoft also works with more than 2000 partners in Denmark, including Accenture, Atea, KMD, Netcompany, NNIT, Proactive, Systematic, and Venzo, to help customers accelerate their digital transformation. [S: TechCrunch]
News in brief
European Union member states have agreed to collaborate on the development of processor and semiconductor technologies as, according to Thierry Breton, the Commissioner for Internal Market, chip design plays “an ever more important role for Europe’s industrial strategy and digital sovereignty”. [S: European Commission]
Ikea has made the “emotional but rational” decision to scrap both the print and digital editions of its catalogue. Launched in 1951, Ikea currently prints around 200 million copies a year. But fewer people are reading the publication and Ikea said it wants to focus on online sales instead. [S: Business Insider]
Funding
Highland Europe, the London-based VC firm focussed on enterprise software and the consumer web, has raised €700m for its fourth fund, bringing the total to €1.8bn since it was spun-out of US-based Highland Capital Partners in 2012. [S: Reuters]
Luko, the Paris-based insurtech firm has raised €50m in a Series B round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from existing investors Accel, Founders Fund, Speedinvest, Orange Ventures, and angel investors including Assaf Wand, co-founder of US unicorn Hippo Insurance. [S: Tech Crunch]
Sova VC, a London-based venture capital firm, part of the Sova group of companies, which includes FCA regulated broker Sova Capital, has launched with plans to invest more than €50m in early-stage startups in the UK, the Nordics, Baltics and the east coast of the US. It has already written its first cheque; $2.5m in the Series B round of Smartcat, a translation services marketplace. [S: Tech EU]
Finn.auto, the Munich-based car subscription firm, has raised €20m in a Series A round with new funding coming from White Star Capital, an early investor in TIER Mobility, and the Zalando co-CEOs Rubin Ritter, David Schneider and Robert Gentz. All existing investors also joined the round. [S: Tech EU]
Simplesurance, the Berlin-based cross-selling insurance platform has raised a €15m convertible loan from Allianz X and a previous investor. [S: Coverager]
Wonder, the Berlin-based developer of a ‘social spaces’ platform, has raised $11m in a seed fund round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from existing investor BlueYard Capital. [S: Tech EU]
Gigantic, the Tel Aviv developers of the hybrid online/real-world game Clawee, has raised $7m in a round led by NFX Capital and Union Tech Ventures. [S: CTECH]
AGORA, the London-based social commerce platform, which allows users to monetise their use of beauty products, has raised £5m in a seed round led by Draper Esprit with participation from Lakestar, Angel Capital Management and other investors. [S: Tech EU]
SixAI, the HaZafon-based advanced robotics team, has received a $5m investment from the South Israel Bridging Fund. [S: CTech]
Payaut, the Amsterdam-based creators of an automated payment solution for online marketplaces, has raised €2.6m in a seed funding round led by existing investor LocalGlobe, with Finch Capital also participating again. They were joined by Entrée Capital and angel investors. [S: EU Startups]
Aiko, a Turin-based startup developing AI software for the automation of space missions, has raised €1.5m in a round led by Primo Space Fund. [S: FinSMEs]
Bond Health, the Cardiff-based developers of a platform which collects and stores data from lateral flow diagnostic tests, of the type used to combat COVID-19, has raised £1m from Wealth Club and £200,000 from the Development Bank of Wales. [S: Business News Wales]
LetMeIn.to, the Johannesburg-based enterprise visitor management platform, has raised R2.2m in a seed round from undisclosed investors. [S: Biz Tech Africa]
Diversely.io, the Singapore-based recruitment site that aims to remove bias from the hiring process, has raised $200,000 in pre-seed funding from angel investors. [S: Arabian Business].
Deals & acquisitions
Catawiki, the Amsterdam-based online auction site which specialises in selling high-value collectors’ items, has agreed to sell a stake to Permira, the UK private equity firm, for €150m, valuing the company at €500m. [S: The Financial Times]
IMImobile, the London-based customer interaction platform, has been bought by Cisco for $730m. [S: PR Newswire]
Avira, the Tettnang-based cybersecurity firm, has been acquired by a rival, the Tempe-based NortonLifeLock for $360m. [S: Tech EU]
SIX, operator of the Swiss Stock Exchange, has bought a major stake in Custodigit, the institutional digital asset gateway [S: FinTech News]
Esri, the Aylesbury-based geographic information system (GUS) software firm, has acquired Zibumi, the Ankara-based geospatial simulation developer. [S: Business Wire]
People & companies
Exchase, the Tallin-based cryptocurrency trading platform, announced plans to launch a platform combining fintech services and technologies - such as margin trading, token listing, crypto games, money transfer, binary options, social trading, crypto loans, a crypto wallet, a P2P exchange and OTC trading services - that is accessible from a single user account. [S: FinSMEs]
Weir Group, the Glasgow-based engineering company, has selected Bengaluru-based Microland, to “support the development and execution of its digital roadmap”. [S: PR Newswire]
KSM Innovation, the Tel Aviv-based health research centre, is studying the use of gaming to improve digital healthcare for patients and clinicians. [S: CTECH]
HP, the printing and PC devices company spun out of Hewlett-Packard, has appointed Bradley Pulford as its new vice president and MD for the Africa region. [S: Tech Central]
IBM announced its support for the Digitalisation for Agriculture (D4Ag) initiative, helping 36 start-ups from 13 countries with digital expertise from IBM Services and high-resolution data from IBM’s The Weather Company. [S: Biztech Africa]
YouTube has appointed Laurie Davison as head of its television and film operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. [S: Broadband and TV News]