These were the 10 biggest European tech stories this week

Happy Friday!

This week, Tech.eu tracked 16 technology M&A transactions, one IPO and 75 tech funding deals (totalling €480 million) in Europe, Turkey and Israel.

Like every week, we listed every single one of them in our free weekly newsletter, along with interesting news regarding fledgling European startups, tech investors old and new, a number of good reads published elsewhere, government and policy news, as well as an overview of interesting lists, facts and figures from a wide variety of sources.

You can subscribe to our newsletter below to receive all this information in your inbox every Friday afternoon for free, but here’s an overview of the 10 biggest European tech news items for this week:

1) Trivago, the German hotel search platform that is majority owned by online travel firm Expedia, raised $287 million in an IPO this week, far below expectations.

2) Messaging services such as Skype and WhatsApp face stricter rules on the way they handle customer data under new privacy laws due to be proposed by the EU.

3) E2v Technologies, a UK-based electronics manufacturer, is set to be acquired by Teledyne Technologies for ￡620 million.

4) Amazon has started a small private drone delivery trial in the UK.

5) London-based online takeout company Just Eat has acquired its former competitor Hungryhouse from Berlin-based Delivery Hero for ￡200 million.

6) In related news, Delivery Hero has acquired competition site Foodpanda in a sale made by German “startup factory” and investor Rocket Internet.

7) Google is combining its tech might with London-based startup Improbable to launch a joint program that will help game developers build and test virtual worlds.

8) Cambridge, UK-based airfare prediction app Hopper has raised $61 million in a Series C round led by Caisse de dép?t et placement du Québec (CDPQ).

9) HMD Global, the Finnish company that owns the rights to use the Nokia brand on mobile phones, announced its first new products on Tuesday; two basic handsets without internet access priced at $26 before local taxes and subsidies.

10) Bulgarian seed stage VC fund LAUNCHub Ventures has closed its new €18 million fund to invest in startups in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.

Bonus link: What if you could start all over again? The European cities where founders would go.