According to Italian Tech Alliance – the Italian association of venture capital, innovation investors, and innovative startups and SMEs – Italian venture capital funds have raised € 2.372 billion since 2013, of which € 1.2 billion has already been invested over the years to support the birth and growth of innovative startups and SMEs and € 1.172 billion is still available for investments in both existing portfolio companies and new companies (so-called dry powder).
The research was conducted by analysing data on the capital raised by Italian Management Companies – SGR – (or equivalent) from 2013 to the present to understand the origin of the resources that have fuelled the technology market over the past decade. The amount available to CDP Venture Capital SGR for direct investments was excluded from the calculation.
The results are in line with Italian VC dynamics and are linked to several factors: the fact that many VC firms have only recently started to raise money; the average size of the funds is growing; funds have to set aside capital for follow-on; the deployment of capital takes place over a horizon of at least 10 years.
To catch up with other European countries, Italy needs a greater involvement of certain players, such as institutional investors and large corporations, contributing considerably less than elsewhere.
Only 14.9% of the funds raised came from institutional investors. With € 164.1 million, Pension Funds accounted for 6.9%, with an average investment of € 10.9 million in 15 funds.
Banking Foundations contributed € 155 million, while the complementary pension system – Negotiated Pension Funds, Pre-existing Pension Funds, and Supplementary Health Care Funds – contributed € 23 million in 5 funds, accounting for just 1% and with an average investment of € 4.6 million.
Open Pension Funds, Individual Pension Plans and Insurance Companies invested € 11.6 million, corresponding to 0.5% of total raised capital by VCs, with an average investment of € 1.7 million and a presence in only 7 funds.
Corporate Investors and Banks accounted for 19.9% of the funds raised. Corporate Investors represent 10.3% of LPs (€ 244.6 million), with a presence in 20 funds and an average investment ticket of € 12.2 million. Banks accounted for 9.6% (€ 227.3 million), with a presence in 25 funds and an average investment of € 9.1 million.
The most significant portion of funds provided to Italian VC operators comes from Sovereign Investors (49.9%). In particular, CDP Venture Capital SGR (or, historically, Fondo Italiano d’Investimento) and Regional Funds contributed € 693.9 million in 26 funds, or 29.3% of total funding, for an average investment ticket of € 26.7 million. The European Investment Fund (EIF) invested € 488.5 million in 15 funds, accounting for 20.6% of total capital, with an average investment of € 32.6 million.
Private investors weigh 15.7%, making them one of the categories with the highest presence among Italian VCs, albeit with lower availability of resources.
In particular, Family Offices and other types of private investors invested € 296.7 million in 30 funds (12.5%, and an average investment of € 9.9 million), while other management companies (SGRs) invested € 67.3 million in 30 funds, corresponding to 2.8% of the total capital raised, for an average investment of € 2.2 million.
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The research (in Italian) is available at this link: https://www.italiantechalliance.com/_files/ugd/ffd03c_4954929ca063424e84cd720515380090.pdf