Maurizio Bernardo, the chairman of Assofintech (the Italian association of sector companies and investors), said that even though the tax deductions of 50% for investments in startup and innovative SMEs could be a good incentive, the procedure for achieving them is too long and difficult (see here a previous post by BeBeez. EdiBeez’s co-founders, Fabio Allegreni, the ceo of EdiBeez (the publisher of BeBeez) and Stefania Peveraro, the Editor in Chief of BeBeez, contributed to founding Assofintech.
Ipervox, an Italian startup for the creation of vocal appliances, raised 300k euros from Cdp Venture Capital (150k euros), LVenture Group and other business angels (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Juxhin Radhima (ceo) and Armand Sheshori founded Ipervox in 2020.
BlackSheep Ventures, a venture capital fund that invests in European madtech (marketing, advertising and technology) companies aims to raise 100 million euros in two tranches and close 25 investments (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Umberto Bottesini heads Blacksheep together with Marco Caradonna, Sandro Moretti, Antonio Achille, and Giovanni Strocchi.
Milan-listed tlc Exprivia and venture capital fund a|impact – Avanzi Etica Sicaf Euveca (Avanzi) acquired 10% and 27% of AreaMedical24 (AM24), a startup for providing health care services at home (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The buyers invested more than 0.4 million euros. Roberta Bombini and Chiara Gariazzo founded AM24 in 2017.
Milan-listed crowdfunding portal CrowdFundMe launched CFM Board, a marketplace for the secondary crowdfunding market (See here a previous post by BeBeez).
Humaans, a London-based startup that Giovanni Luperti and Karolis Narkevicius founded in in 2020 attracted seed capitals for 5 million US Dollars (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Frontline Ventures (leading investor) poured resources in the company together with Y Combinator, Moonfire di Mattias Ljungman, Lachy Groom, Jeff Weiner’s Next Play Ventures, Claire Johnson, Dylan Field, Des Traynor, David Clarke, Scott Belsky, Akshay Kothari, Emre Baran, Shane Curren, and Gerardo Di Giacomo.
Glass to Power, a spin-off of Milan University that produces transparent photovoltaic panels, launched a crowdlisting campaign on Opstart (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company already raised 0.617 million euros ahead of a target of 1 – 4.992 million on the ground of a pre-money value of little above 19 milion. In July 2018, GlassToPower raised 2.25 million for a 20% stake on CrowdFundMe and attracted 0.627 million from Industrie De Nora, a producer of electrochemical items for water treatment. In 2017, the startup raised 183,750 euros on CrowdFundMe on the ground of an enterprise value of 1.5 million for a pre-money value of 9 million.
Aulab, a coding factory, launched an equity crowdfunding on Mamacrowd with a least target of 0.2 million euros and a pre-money of 6.5 million (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company already raised 0.215 million from 20 investors. In June 2020, Aulab closed a seed round of 0.4 million on the ground of a post-money value of 2.7 million and attracted the resources of SocialFare Seed and Manilo Marocco
Cdp Venture Capital launched Fondo Evoluzione, a vehicle with resources for 100 million euros, the attracted the subscription of Cdp Equity (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Fondo Evoluzione will invest in series A and B rounds of innovative startups and SMEs that operate in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, biotech, MedTech, new materials, and quantum computing. Mario Scudieri and Lorenzo Franchini will head the fund.
Milan-listed motorway company Atlantia poured 15 million euros round in the Series D round worth 200 million of Volocopter, a German producer of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircrafts (See here a previous post by BeBeez). Volocopter also attracted the resources of BlackRock, Avala Capital, Continental, Jericho Capital, the corporate venture capital of NTT, Tokyo Century, and other family offices and investors. The company’s current investors Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, Daimler, DB Schenker, Intel Capital, btov Partners, Team Europe, and Klocke Holding also joined the round.
DoveVivo, a provider of flatsharing services, attracted 30 million euros from Milan-listed Tamburi Investment Partners (TIP) and other investors (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company will invest such proceeds in expanding its international activities and its organic development. TIP acquired 20% of DoveVivo, which is born in 2007. William Maggio and Valerio Fonseca own 61% of the company that in July 2019 launched a 50 million capital increase that Tikehau Capital led with a ticket of 29 million for a 19% stake. Isitituto Atesino di Sviluppo (ISA) and Seac Fin poured more than 7 million in the capital increase. In September 2020, DoveVivo launched a 15 million capital increase that Roberto Nicastro subscribed together with Francesco Perilli, Guido Rivolta, Maurizio Cereda, Roberto Marsella, Marco Lucchini, and Fabio Troiani. In July 2019, DoveVivo received credit lines for 22.5 million from Milan-listed Illimity Bank.
Teamsystem, a publisher of B2B software that belongs to Hellman&Friedman, acquired 59% of Italian fintech rating agency Modefinance and signed a call option for buying the whole company by 2025 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Kauri (fka Corvallis), sold its 43% stake in Modefinance together with the founders Valentino Pediroda and Mattia Ciprian. Modefinance received the incubation support from Area Science Park, part of Trieste University and in December 2015 sold to Kauri a 43% stake. Since March 2012, Alkemia (fka Nem) owns 43.5% of Kauri, whose controlling shareholders are Antonio Santocono and Enrico Del Sole. In July 2019, Modefinance signed a partnership with UK fintech Wiserfunding, a firm that Edward Altman founded, for launching a rating service for SMEs.
Stip and Virtual B received the Digital Factory Award, a call for open innovation that FCA Bank launched with Turin Polytechnic University’s incubator I3P (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Stip and Virtual B will receive from FCA Bank the resources for developing a Proof-of-Concept (PoC). Amir Salam, Edoardo Vallebella and Fabrizio Aiello founded Stip, a California – based provider of AI tools for customer service support, in 2018. In March 2019, the company attracted pre-seed financing facilities from Singapore’s Hatcher+. Claudio Costamagna, Giovanni Guicciardi, Serena Torielli, Raffaele Zenti, and Fabio Marras founded Milan-based Virtual B, a data analytics company for machine learning, artificial intelligence, and investment strategy in the field of banking and insurance.
Banca Progetto (fka Banca Lecchese), the Italian challenger bank for SMEs and retail clients of which Oaktree Capital Management owns a controlling stake since 2015, signed a partnership with FinDynamic, a provider of supply chain financing facilities, for the supply of dynamic discounting services to corporate clients (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Banca Progetto will provide facilities through FinDynamic with the warranty of MCC/Sace. Paolo Fiorentino is the ceo of Banca Progetto while Enrico Viganò is the founder and ceo of FinDynamic. Banca Progetto has net profits of 12 million euros.
