Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the largest business angel network in Italy, recently presented an updated analysis of the IAG INDEX. This indicator aims at monitoring the vibrancy of the Italian startup ecosystem in terms of investment opportunities for business angels. It also helps to monitor the trends in the Italian venture capital industry.
In 15 years of activity, IAG has analysed over 6,500 startups and has finalised over 110 investments through club deals and 15 exits. In addition, IAG business angels have invested more than € 50 million in companies that have raised an additional € 330 million from investors.
The index, calculated on the IAG’s deal flow, is based on six parameters: industrial sector, stage of the fundraising round, valuation, geographical area, gender diversity, and ESG impact.
IAG analysed 962 startups for the period July 2020 – 2021, of which 36.3% related to the digital area, 33% to the life science sector, 17.1% to deeptech and 13.6% to fintech. Italian fintech is one of the sectors that has responded best to the new needs dictated by the pandemic. In 2021, the analysed startups in the fintech industry increased by 49% compared to the previous year.
Most of the IAG’s deal flow is related to startups looking for seed capital (66.4%), +5% year-on-year, confirming IAG’s strategic positioning. A lower number of startups (19,5%) contact IAG for series A rounds.
In 2021, there was a general increase in valuations, both pre-money and post-money. On average, the pre-money valuations of an Italian pre-seed round are around € 2.5 million, of a seed round around € 5 million, of a Series A round around € 11 million. There’s a difference between the average pre-money valuation of Italian and foreign startups. This difference can reach 40% in the case of Series A rounds.
Regarding gender diversity, 41.3% of the analysed startups have at least one female founder in their teams (it was 34.8% in the previous issue, above international standards). This is particularly true for the life science industry, where almost half of the companies analysed have at least one female founder.
Regarding the ESG factor, 37.4% of the analysed startups have a “responsible” approach to environmental, social or governance aspects.
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For more info (in Italian) visit: https://www.italianangels.net/news/iag-index-2021-2020-the-relaunch-of-fintech/