Bird vs Mailchimp

European Tech Weekly Recap: Over €2B Invested Across 65+ Deals

This weekly recap summarizes European tech funding and M&A activity for the week of September 21-27, 2026. More than 65 funding deals raised over €2 billion, with robotics, AI, and healthtech leading the sectors. Portugal, the Netherlands, and the UK were the top countries by funding amount. Notable deals include TEKEVER's $580M Series D, Bird's $450M debt raise, and Verda's $189M AI cloud funding. In M&A, feld.energy is acquiring AckerKapital, EYSA acquires Joinup, Mistral AI acquires Pimento, and Luno acquires GXTN. The recap also highlights various smaller funding rounds across Europe.

• Over 65 tech funding deals raised more than €2 billion in Europe during the week of September 21-27, 2026.
• Top industries: robotics (€508.3M), AI (€406.6M), and healthtech (€305.8M).
• Leading countries: Portugal (€510.9M), Netherlands (€435.9M), UK (€273.9M).

Bird secures $450M and opens its infrastructure to AI agents

Bird announced securing $450M in financing and opening its infrastructure to AI agents, as featured on the company's blog.

Bird Raises $450M Debt, Cuts Headcount to 120

Bird, the business communications platform formerly known as MessageBird, has raised $450 million in debt financing led by JP Morgan, Capital One, and Citi. The funding includes a $400 million term loan and a $50 million revolving credit facility, with seven banks participating. The proceeds will provide liquidity to existing shareholders, including current and former employees. The company has drastically reduced its headcount from over 1,000 at its peak to 120, driven by automation and a strategic pivot toward AI. Bird is focusing on its AI Agentic Harness platform, which enables AI agents to communicate via SMS, calls, and email. The company reported $165 million in profits last year.

• Bird raised $450 million in debt financing led by JP Morgan, Capital One, and Citi.
• The financing comprises a $400 million term loan and a $50 million revolving credit facility.
• Bird's headcount has been reduced from over 1,000 at its peak to 120 employees.

Intuit Faces Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Rosen Law Firm reminds Intuit Inc. investors of the September 8, 2026 deadline to become lead plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Intuit made misleading statements about its growth prospects and the performance of Mailchimp, its email marketing platform. Specifically, the complaint claims that Intuit concealed competitive pressures from generative AI and that Mailchimp was not achieving the turnaround to double-digit growth as touted. The class period spans February 25, 2025 to June 1, 2026. Investors who purchased Intuit securities during this period may be eligible for compensation. The deadline to move the court to serve as lead plaintiff is September 8, 2026. The lawsuit is ongoing and no class has been certified yet.

• Rosen Law Firm filed a securities fraud class action against Intuit Inc.
• The class period is between February 25, 2025, and June 1, 2026.
• The deadline to apply for lead plaintiff is September 8, 2026.

Fixing 550 SPF Check Failed Error

This technical guide explains the 550 SPF Check Failed error — a rejection by a receiving mail server when a sender's domain fails SPF (Sender Policy Framework) validation as defined by RFC 7208. It lists common causes (missing or malformed SPF TXT records, incomplete sender lists, exceeding the 10-DNS-lookup limit, or strict DMARC policies) and provides a five-step troubleshooting workflow: verify SPF existence and syntax, include all sending sources, check DNS lookup limits, review DMARC policy, and test/monitor after changes. The article includes example SPF records, best practices (start with ~all, combine SPF with DKIM and DMARC, maintain DNS hygiene), and recommends using SPF/DMARC reporting and external checkers to validate changes and monitor deliverability.

• The 550 SPF Check Failed error occurs when a receiving mail server rejects an incoming email because the sender's domain failed SPF validation.
• SPF is defined in RFC 7208 and requires a domain TXT record that starts with 'v=spf1' to list authorized sending mechanisms.
• Common causes of SPF failures include missing SPF records, incorrect SPF syntax, incomplete sending sources, and exceeding the SPF 10 DNS lookup limit.