Ignazio Visco, the governor of Banca d’Italia, speaking at the annual meeting of Assiom Forex last weekend said that private capital and fintech investments may support the growth (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Italy has to improve further the efficience of its private capital market in order to offer other credit channels further than the banking sector. Regulators have to update their compliance systems for auditing fintech players.
In Italy operate 171 incubators and accelerators for startups. The Report about Italian incubators and accelerators of Social Innovation Monitor of T said that 60% of the accelerators is based in the North, (25.3% in Lombardy) (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Italia StartUp, Banca Etica, Compagnia di San Paolo, Impact Hub Milano, Instilla, IREN, Make a Cube3, SocialFare, and Social Innovation Teams – SIT provided collaboration for this Report. Most of the incubators are private (64.2%), government backed – private (21.8%), and fully government backed (13.9%). In 2017, 1.344 entrepreneurial teams and 2.435 startup received support, while 21.4% of incubated startups operate in health and wellness sector. In the same period, incubators generated revenues of 222 million of euros, 1.30 million on average. Turin Polytechnic Professor and editor of the report Paolo Landoni said that there is a significant increase of the attention of the business community for the social impact.
Insurtech startup Yolo (You Only Live Once) raised 5 million of euros with a series A financing round that Neva Finventures, the corporate venture capital of Intesa Sanpaolo, led together with Primomiglio, Net Insurance, and Miro Ventures (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Yolo sells on demand and pay per use insurance products on a daily and monthly basis. Simone Ranucci Brandimarte, founder of Buongiorno and Glamoo, and chairman of AIM-listed Digitouch, founded Yolo together with ceo Gianluca de Cobelli (previously working for CartaSì, Amex, EY, and Reply). Yolo will invest these proceeds in the development of its insurtech platform and selling its products in countries like Germany and Turkey. Mario Costantini is the ceo of Neva Finventures and coo of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. He said that the investment in Yolo has strategic synergies with Intesa Sanpaolo Assicuraand Banca 5. Alessia Truini, head of the Protection coverage of Intesa Sanpaolo Assicura, joined Yolo’s board.
