In 2018 Italian business angels invested a total amount of 46.5 million euros (+75% from 26.6 million yoy) (see here a previous post byBeBeez). Angels invested 80% of this amount for acquiring shares and 20% for financing shareholders, said Survey Iban 2018, a report about informal venture capital that Vincenzo Capizzi from SDA Bocconi highlighted during the XX Convention of Iban (Italian Business Angels Network) that Milan’s PwC hosted.
On 20 June, Italian stock market regulator Consob released a proposal for changing the Regulation on equity crowdfunding following some changes brought by the Italian budget law for 2019 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Stakeholders are asked to give their feedback by next July 20th. The news is that the Law allows now equity crowdfunding platforms to host also campaigns for SMEs that aim to raise funds for debt instruments. Only professional investors can invest in such campaigns, but the Law says that Consob might add some other categories of investors. So the consultation with the market is about that issue.
Neva Finventures, the corporate venture capital of Intesa Sanpaolo, invested 4 million euros for acquiring a minority of Italian equity crowdfunding platform BacktoWork24 through a capital increase (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Neva Finventures signed a call option for acquiring a majority of the asset. Antonio Chiarello, the founder of equity crowdfunding platform ClubDealOnline, recently joined Neva Finventures.
Lybra.Tech, a tech tourism startup, raised 500k euros through an investment round led by LVenture Group and business angels Angel Partner Group, part of Italian Angels for Growth, and Pi Campus (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Lybra.Tech is a Rome-based SaaS platform that sells its services to hotels that Fulvio Gianetti (ceo), Lorenzo Magnarelli, Marco D’Amore, Riccardo Pirozzi, and Stefano Sciamanna founded.
MySecretCase, an online vendor of sex toys for women, raised a 1.5 million euros Series B financing round (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Strategic investors joined funds R301 Capital and B Heroes and angel investors such as Ferdinand Von Kalm, previously ceo ofRocket Internet. Ceo Norma Rossetti founded MySecretCase in 2014. The company will invest such proceeds in its organic development.
Andrea Rota received the 2019 Business Angel Award from Club degli Investitori, Kpmg, and Unicredit (See here a previous post byBeBeez). Fabio Cannavale, serial entrepreneur and investor, won the award for 2018 and chaired the jury for the 2019 edition. Giancarlo Rocchietti is the chairman of Club degli Investitori. Rota is part of Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) and of Swiss ICT Investors Club (SICTIC)and mainly invests in Italy. In five years Rota pured 0.45 million euros in 25 startups that generated a 2.5X portfolio performance.
Fintastico, the fintech TripAdvisor, and Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) signed a strategic partnership for supporting Italian fintech firms (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fintastico will screen fintech startups for IAG that will shortlist assets for the member of its network.Fabio Brambilla (chairman of Assofintech; founder and ceo of ControlPartners), Fabio Marras, and Fabrizio Villani founded Fintastico in 2016.
The foodtech startup EatsReady raised 650k euros from B2B innovation platform Gellify and three other investors (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Micaela Illy, Olivia Burgio, and Luciano de Franco founded EatsReady.
Utego, the startup that aggregates all current accounts and cards of its users, raised 500k euros through an equity crowdfunding campaign on 200Crowd (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Utego’s pre-money valuation was in the region of 2 millions. The company is working on the creation of buying groups, ceo Stefano Musso said to BeBeez. Musso founded the company in 2018 together with Paolo Patruno Emanuele Preve, part of the company’s advisory board, has a 44% stake in the business together with the ceo and the cofounder.Maurizio Pimpinella, the chairman of the Italian association of providers of payment services, is part of the company’s advisory board.
RockAgent, an Italian proptech startup, raised 3 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Israeli’s accelerator Sarona Partners 365x coordinated the investors. Daniel Debash founded RockAgent in 2018. Debash said that the company will invest such proceeds in its organic development.
