Tech companies can’t seem to help but get themselves in trouble with the law. There is of course a rich history of governments putting their foot down to stem one activity or another, typified by the antitrust suit against Microsoft back in 2000.
Some see these legal incidents as a badge of honor, a clear sign of doing something disruptive and innovative. Others see it as the nasty habit of the tech industry to disregard legal standards that apply to other businesses.
Last week, headlines announced a complaint leveraged against Google by the European Commission over Android’s monopoly. Uber reached a $100 million settlement with drivers in California and Massachusetts, ensuring that the class-action suit against them won’t go to court.
And if that’s not enough legal action for you, Theranos has come under investigation by federal prosecutors and the SEC for misleading investors about the state of their product.
The 💜 of EU tech
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At Index we gather tech coverage into one platform for tech enthusiasts to keep up with the news and access that data. In this series, we fill you in at the start of every week on what’s been happening in tech.
The overall picture
In the past week, Index logged 240 funding events from 26 different countries. The top 10 countries from North America and Europe in terms of number of rounds can be seen below:
North America
This week in North America there were 141 investments made at a total of $1.81 billion in capital deployment. Notably, blogging and reading platform Medium picked up a $50 million Series C round from Spark Capital, a16z, and GV. Check out the breakdown in series in North America below:
Europe
Europe saw 42 funding rounds for a total of $573 million. Spain-based cab service company Cabify took in the biggest round of the week with their $120 million Series C round led by Rakuten. Below you can see the breakdown of rounds for the week.
A look back
In this section we look back at the past eight weeks and compare Angel and Seed level rounds, and Series A rounds in both regions. The charts show the fluctuations in average capital volume of the rounds.
This week’s must-reads
Apple Transparency Report reveals four-fold increase in secret US government activity [The Next Web]
Intel announces “evolution” away from PC industry, “up to 12,000” firings [Ars Technica]
Pinterest Reinvents Itself to Prove It’s Really Worth Billions [Wired]
Fair use prevails as Supreme Court rejects Google Books copyright case [Ars Technica]
Google developing ‘Area 120,’ an in-house startup incubator [The Next Web]
BMW Loses Core Development Team of Its i3 and i8 Electric Vehicle Line [Wall Street Journal]
The price of failure: Yahoo’s Marissa Mayer could get $59m buyout [the Guardian]
Media Websites Battle Faltering Ad Revenue and Traffic [NY Times]
Facebook might soon let you earn money from your posts [The Next Web]
Tune in next week for another update on the state of tech. If you can’t wait that long, consider signing up to the Index.co newsletter to get the week’s hottest tech news straight in your inbox!
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