The company that Paolo Barletta founded previously had 40% of the influencer’s firm. The Morgese and Barindelli Families also refused to pour resources in Fenice
Alchimia will not pour resources in the capital increase of Fenice, the Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni company of which it previously had 40%. After the Decembre 2023 scandals related to the misleading advertising of Panettone Balocco and Easter Eggs Dolci Preziosi with the influencer’s brand, several firms decided to terminate the contracts with Ferragni.
On 29 April, Tuesday, Alchimia, a venture capital firm that Paolo Barletta, Lorenzo Castelli and Marcello Tedeschi had, said it will no longer be an investor of Fenice, the vehicle that manage the Italian influencer’s brands.
In March 2025, the ceo Claudio Calabi launched a 6.4 million capital increase for Fenice (see here a previous post by BeBeez) that managed to attracted the resources of Ferragni’s Sisterhood (the current sole owner of the business) ahead of attracting new investors (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
In 2024, Fenice sales dropped to 2 million euros from 11 million in 2023 and 14.2 million in 2022. Between 2023 and 2024 the company posted cumulated losses of 10.2 million (6.6 million in 2023) after heavy write offs of the brands and non-material assets.
Ferragni said: “I became for the first time the majority shareholder of Fenice. It’s not just a matter of stakes: it’s a fresh start. My hands are on my story, without delegating, without pretending that everything is fine when it is not. It is taking on the burden and the beauty of leading, deciding, changing. It’s about being free for the first time to carry forward my brand and my name”.
Fenice previously belonged to Sisterhood (32.5%), Esuriens (27.5% – a vehicle of the Barindelli and Morgese Families) and Alchimia (40%).
In 2023, Alchimia signed an agreement for gradually selling part of its stake in Fenice to a club deal of AVM Gestioni, a firm that Giovanna Dossena heads, on the ground of an enterprise value of 75 million (see a previous post by BeBeez). However, the closing did not take place after the fraudulent adverts scandals that involved the company.
Alchimia said it aims to focus on its portfolio of companies which includes Wemed, a cloud-based telemedicine platform, WeRoad, an online tool for organising group travels, and Stardust, a marketplace for influencers. Barletta also invests in luxury real estate throughArsenale, a company that created in 2020 with Nicola Bulgari (see here a previous post by BeBeez), a 12% owner of Alchimia. In 2021, Arsenale acquired Rome’s Grand Hotel de la Minerve (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In 2022, Arsenale attracted debt and equity resources worth a total of 300 million from Oaktree (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
