According to IBAN (Italian Business Angels Network Association), the Italian Business Angels’ investments registered a meaningful growth in 2019, from € 46,5 million in 2018 to € 52,7 million in 2019 (+32,7%).
The total number of deals decreased from 167 in 2018 to 88 in 2019, bringing the average investment amount in each deal (by either a single or a group of BAs) from € 280k in 2018 to 600k in 2019, with more than 50% of the deals exceeding € 100k euros, and 26% exceeding € 500k.
Italian BAs also invested together with venture capital funds (they participated in 51 VC deals, for a total invested capital of € 230 million – including VC funds) and through equity crowdfunding platforms (BAs invested € 1.3 million in 27 deals – source: Osservatorio Crowd-Investing).
The average investment ticket per BA was € 220k, with a greater preference for companies in the start-up phase (66%) than those in the seed phase (34%). However, seed investments keep increasing: in 2018, seed investments represented 29% of total BAs investments, in 2017 they represented 16%.
The most attractive sectors were ICT (35% of total investments in 2019), consumer goods and general services (11% each), pharma and health care (8%).
79% of target companies were innovative start-up or SME; 72% of companies were located in north of Italy and just 4% abroad.
The typical Italian BA is a man between 40 and 50 years, with a high level of education and professional experience (managers and entrepreneurs); only 11% of Italian BAs are women.
On average, BAs’ start-up investments represent less than 10% of a BA’s personal assets.
The most important elements analysed by an Italian BA when assessing entrepreneurial initiatives are:
- the market growth potential (45%)
- the team (26%)
- the exit strategy (11%)
Regarding exits, only 11% of Italian BAs confirmed at least one exit in 2019, with an average holding period of 9 years.
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You can find the detailed IBAN 2019 survey (in Italian) at the following link: https://bebeez.it/files/2020/07/Survey-IBAN-Investimenti-2019_def.pdf