Automotive group Stellantis launched corporate venture capital vehicle Stellantis Ventures (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The fund has resources of 300 million euros and will target startups operating in the mobility and automotive sectors. Till now the group had been dealing with startups thanks to Paola Antonella Garzonio, Head of Start-Ups Scouting and Partnership at Stellantis Venture Lab.
Kither Biotech, a health tech spin-off of Turin University, raised 18.5 million euros from Claris Ventures, 2 Invest, 3B Future Health Fund, Alef 6, and current shareholders CDP Venture Capital, Italian Angels for Growth, Ersel, Club degli Investitori, and ACE Venture (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Pietro Puglisi (Claris Ventures) and Heikki Lanckriet (4BaseBio) joined Kither board of directors while Vincent Metzler will replace as ceo Marco Kevin Malisani who now will act as cfo.
Banca Valsabbina acquired 9% of Opstart, an Italian fintech platform for equity, lending and debt crowdfunding (aee here a previous post by BeBeez). Giovanpaolo Arioldi (ceo – 24.03% owner) and Alessandro Arioldi (cto – 19.57%) founded Opstart in 2015. In November 2019, Aleph Finance Group acquired 5.16% of the business who also belongs to PMI Top (7.25%), Diego Zanchi (19.57%) and Andrea Cantù (19.57%). PMI Top is a private capital investment holding that raises its resources through equity crowdfunding campaigns. Minority shareholders Davide Cigolini and Alessandro Tesio founded the firm in 2020. Directa Sim, Diego Zanchi, Alessandro Arioldi and Giovanpaolo Arioldi also have stakes in the business. Opstart has revenues of 0.632 million euros, an ebtida of 75,000 euros, net profits of 28,000 euros, and net cash of 1.34 million.
Eureka! Fund I – Technology Transfer, a fund that Eureka! Venture manages, launched Eureka TT srl, a vehicle for investing in proof-of-concept (POC) projects of Italian researchers (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Eureka TT will invest a total of 0.8 million euros in medtech T-Rem3die (Turin Polytechnic), smart labels producer Active Labels (Cagliari University) and PerovSKY, a developer of solar cells in Perovskite that is part of the Italian Council for Research (CNR).
P101 sgr led the 2 million investment round in Spanish Civitfun Hospitality, a developer of online check-in software for hotels, who also attracted the resources of Claudio Bellinzona and Fabio Zecchini (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Civitfun Hospitality will invest the proceeds in hiring further resources and its organic development.
Cysero, a vehicle that AVM Gestioni and Kilometro Rosso launched for investing in robotics and cyber security, invested in FlyingBasket, a developer of drones that Moritz and Matthias Moroder founded in 2015 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). In 2021, FlyingBasket joined the acceleration programme of Intesa Sanpaolo Elite Lounge 2021 while in 2020 it joined Accelerator di MassChallenge Switzerland. Alberto Bombassei and Giovanna Dossena launched Cysero in 2020.
CoderBlock, an online platform for creating immersive 3D virtual experiences that belongs to software house Novatek, raised more than 820k euros through an equity crowdfunding campaign on Mamacrowd for which set a target of 0.15 million on the ground of a pre-money value of 4 million (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company launched tha campaign in November 2021 an raised its target to 0.35 million, subsequentely to 0.6 million, 0.7 million and finally to 0.822 million. CoderBlock will invest the proceeds in developing its SaaS platform and its proprietary metaverse and hiring further resources. Novatek has sales of 0.321 million. Danilo Costa (ceo and 69.4% owner) founded the company in 2015. Further owners of the firms are Jacopo Paoletti (5%), Aura Nuccio (1.7%) and Luciano Nuccio (0.8%).
Utopia, an investor in healthcare an biomedics that Fondazione Golinelli, Fondazione Sardegna and Antonio Falcone launched in 2020, acquired a 30% of PerFormS, a spin-off of Modena e Reggio Emilia University, through the subscription of a capital increase  (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Mediocredito Centrale provided a warranty for 80% of the investment. PerFormS is developing Nano-ReSkin, a dermocosmetic product for the treatment of psoriasis.
Italian financial holding Excellis aims to acquires minorities of startups that Italian researchers founded abroad (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Venture capital veterans Loris Lanzellotti and Alberto Emprin founded Excellis who will target the sectors of industrial robotics, cleantech, medtech, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing. The holding aims to raise 5 million euros and launch a capital increase by 1H22, Lanzellotti said. In the next 18 months, Excellis aims to invest in 15 projects and carry on exits in 36 months.
Venture capital firm Vertis sgr appointed Giacomo Gaeta as the head of ESG (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Mr. Gaeta previously worked as ESG manager for Fondo Pensione Nazionale BCC-CRA, London’s Fundageo Life Asset Management and Fondo Pensione Byblos. Amedeo Giurazza is the ceo of Vertis.
