After a record year of venture capital investment for Italy, 2023 saw a halving of investments in startups, in line with what was recorded almost everywhere, from Europe to the United States (more details will be shared in the next few days – stay tuned!). However, the launch activity of venture capital funds and investment vehicles dedicated to Italy (and beyond) continued.
Below you will find a list (in alphabetical order) of some of the new venture capital funds, club deals and investment initiatives dedicated to startup investments in Italy, announced in 2023.
12Venture, the first startup studio in Italy operating in the edtech and hrtech sectors launched by venture builder Enzima 12
Adr Ventures, the new corporate vehicle created by Aeroporti di Roma to start corporate venture capital activities. ADR Ventures focuses on investments in startups in the aerospace, automation and robotics, future of travel, and sustainability sectors. ADR Ventures invests in Seed and Series A startups.
Annapurna, a VC investment vehicle focused on Italy and abroad launched by H14, Luigi Berlusconi’s investment holding.
ALICrowd III, the third fund of Azimut dedicated to innovative startups and SMEs.
Azimut Digitech Europe, a strategy of Azimut in venture capital that is being implemented with the launch of two funds, Venture Capital Digitech Europe and Azimut Eltif, targeting both retail and professional and ultra-wealthy investors. The strategy is to invest in European software and platform-as-a-service startups active in four different technology verticals: artificial intelligence, fintech, marketplace, human resources and welfare. The portfolio will be split between scale-up and growth-stage, finalizing A and B rounds with tickets from 3 to 15 million.
AG 4 Future Food, dPixel’s international accelerator program, which aims to identify and support startups that can develop innovative, economically viable, accessible and efficient solutions and technologies within the agri-food supply chain.
Catalisi, an operator angel group launched by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Enrico Pandian. Catalisi invests in pre-seeded Italian and international startups. The club is composed of entrepreneurs from the startup world and invests tickets from € 150 to 200 thousand per company, in 8-10 companies per year.
DAO Studio, a venture studio established and administered by a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), incorporated under Italian law. Among DAO Studio’s main goals is to validate at least four business ideas per year.
Deep Blue Ventures, an early stage deep tech fund by Deep Ocean Capital SGR, focusing on aerospace, exponential technologies linked to healthcare, sustainable mobility and synthetic biology investments.
Farming Future, CDP Venture Capital’s National Technology Transfer Hub entirely dedicated to the financing and entrepreneurial enhancement of the results of scientific and industrial research activities in agrifood tech.
Finnovaction, Italy’s first startup studio, dedicated to the creation of innovative startups in the fintech sector.
Fitec II (Fondo Italiano Tecnologia e Crescita II), Fondo Italiano d’Investimento’s vehicle dedicated to growth capital for high-growth and high-tech companies. The fund’s investment strategy is aimed at supporting the development plans of Italian SMEs, with a particular focus on those active in the IT and digitisation, industrial innovation, energy transition management and environmental technologies sectors.
FoodSeed, an accelerator for agritech and foodtech, promoted by CDP Venture Capital, through the Accelerators Fund, Fondazione Cariverona and UniCredit.
Galaxia, CDP Venture Capital’s National Technology Transfer Hub for the development of new enterprises dedicated to the aerospace sector.
Secondary fund of Giano Capital, a venture capital operator founded by Alberto Chalon and Andreas Wiele. The fund is intended to buy shares in later-stage companies from existing investors.
Italian Fine Food, fund of AVM Gestioni SGR with a focus on enhancing the regional excellence of Made in Italy food
Linfa Ventures, Riello Investimenti SGR’s first venture capital fund on agrifoodtech (interview with fund manager Marco Gaiani at this LINK).
Mediobanca x Founders Factory Milan Venture Studio, a joint venture to invest in fintech startups.
Moonstone, a new micro VC that invests in Pre-seed/Seed startups solving impactful unsolved problems.
Neva II Global and Neva II Europe, funds launched by Intesa Sanpaolo Group’s venture capital Neva. Operational from the second half of 2024, they will focus on companies that adopt the best ESG and circular economy policies.
Nova 1, the first venture capital fund of Canova SGR, a new asset management company. The fund invests in mainly Italian early stage companies in the following verticals: AI/ML, AR/VR, blockchain, IoT, industry 4.0, foodtech, agritech, cybersecurity, medical devices, marketplaces, logistics.
Poli360 II, the second fund of Politecnico di Milano and 360 Capital Partners vehicle that will focus on seed/early stage investments in technology transfer and digital transformation.
Quantum Italia,the first Italian investment vehicle completely dedicated to Quantum Technologiescreated by Scientifica Venture Capital.
Regenerative Growth 1, agritech impact investing fund, promoted by Mirabaud together with Zebra Impact Ventures, which also looks to Italy.
Step Ventures, venture capital fund promoted by Digital Magics focusing on technology, with a preference on fintech/insurtech/web3, B2B SAAS, AI/smart data, 5G/IOT in seed or pre-series A rounds.
StyleIT, the fashion-tech accelerator of CDP Venture Capital.
Joint Venture of Tinexta and Digital Magics, to invest in 10 early-stage and seed stage startups that develop digital technologies, including through artificial intelligence tools and solutions, in areas potentially pertaining to Tinexta Group’s target industries in an “open innovation” logic.
Toscana Next, a regional co-investment fund to support startups and innovation initiatives to support accelerator programs, technology transfer initiatives and startups operating in Tuscany.
United Ventures III, United Ventures’ third fund that will invest in 15 to 18 early-stage European technology companies developing innovative technology solutions to revolutionize as-yet undigitized industries.
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