In the past days, CDP Venture Capital, the Government body that promotes the growth and development of Italian companies with high technological content or innovation, approved its 2020-2022 business plan called “From Italy to innovating Italy”.
The plan’s main objective is to make venture capital the backbone of economic development and innovation in the country.
CDP Venture Capital’s available resources, allocated by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE) and CDP Group (through its subsidiary CDP Equity) amount to Euro 1 billion, of which 800 million already committed.
Of those 800 million, 260 have been committed by the Co-investment Fund MISE (with available resources of Euro 310 million) which will co-invest together with the funds managed by CDP Venture Capital.
There are four funds which are already active with a balanced combination of direct and indirect investments:
- ITAtech Platform, the investment platform dedicated to financing technology transfer processes. It invests in research centres, universities and start-ups.
- The Caravella Fund, jointly promoted by CDP and the EIF, it invests in innovative start-ups and SMEs, with co-investment from business angels identified by the EIF, in its role as an advisor.
- The Italian Investment Fund, which manages two funds: the Venture Capital Fund of Funds “FII Venture” and “FOF VC”.
In the following months, CDP will launch other two funds:
- The Corporate Venture Capital Fund, which invests directly in start-ups that focus on strategic areas for the country;
- The Tech Transfer Fund, which has the objective of supporting the technological transfer through selective co-investment in promising start-ups and specialised vertical funds.
Both of those have initial resources of Euro 150 milion.
Another fund, called Late Stage Fund, will be launched at the beginning of 2021. It will have initial resources of Euro 100 million and objective of directly supporting start-ups in a more mature stage.
Overall, CDP Venture Capital is currently valuing more than 200 possible investments and has intention to approve investments for more than Euro 50 million before the end of this year. New initiatives have been approved since February, bringing the total amount of approved investments to Euro 100 million, over 160 companies. Some of those address the impact that the Covid-19 emergency has had and the difficulties for the innovative ecosystem.
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For more info visit: https://www.cdp.it/sitointernet/en/venture_capital.page
Read: National Innovation Fund: a hope for the Italian venture capital industry?