Cassa Forense, the pension fund of Italian lawyers, acted as anchor investor for the fund of funds Sustainability Development Umbrella Fund (SDUF) Green Tech that the European Investment Fund (EIF) for investing in venture capitals that aim to support European companies that want to reduce the CO2 emissions (see here a previous post by BeBeez). SDUF attracted 40 million from Cassa Forense and 20 million from EIF. The firm has a target of 250 million and may allow to activate green investments worth one billion spread over ten funds and 150 firms.
Napo Therapeutics (fka Napo EU), an Italian pharmaceutical firm that Nasdaq-listed Jaguar Health founded in 2021, attracted the resources of Sprim Global Investments on the ground of an enterprise value of 55 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). By the end of March, the company aims to raise 7 million ahead of the launch of an IPO. Sources said to BeBeez that Napo Therapeutics aims to launche a further investment round for financing the phase 2 development stage of its drug Crofelemer.
Milan-listed asset manager Azimut’s subsidiary Azimut Enterprises announced the acquisition of a 49.2% of Virtual B, an Italian AI and data analytics wealthtech that rebranded as Wealthype (see here a previous post by BeBeez). After the completion of the capital increase, Claudio Costamagna (16.5%), ceo Serena Torielli (24.5%), Raffaele Zenti (3.5%), and Fabio Marras (2.7%) will keep a stake in the business. Wealthype has a turnover in the region of 0.465 million euros, an ebitda of minus 0.261 million, net cash of 82,500 euros and equity of 0.138 million.
IH1, the investment holding of Mamazen, raised 3.65 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Mamazen will invest such proceeds in supporting startups. The company attracted the resources of Asiri, Giancarlo Russo, Luca Russo, Giuseppe Tempio, Alessandro Molina, Luca Garavello, Alberto D’Agnano, Mauro Maltagliati, and of Simone Cornelio. Anna Maria Siccardi raised her stake in Mamazen. IH1 aims to raise 10 million (3 million for Mamazen) in 5 years.
Microtech, an Italian distributor of IT hardware, raised 2.8 million euros through an equity crowdfunding campaign launched on Mamacrowd on 25 October 2022 with a 2 – 4 million target on the ground of a pre-money value of 10.5 million (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Microtech also attracted the resources of Anthilia Eltif Economia Reale (0.75 million) and AZ Eltif AliCrowd (1.2 million). Fabio Rifici (ceo) founded Microtech in 2009. The company has sales of 19.8 million and an ebitda of 1.6 million. For the next threee years, Microtech expect to generate sales of 40 million and an ebitda of 3.6 million.
Ittinsect – Feed for the Ocean, a biotech producer for sustainable production of aquaculture feed, raised 625k euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company attracted the resources of CDP Venture Capital, Katapult Ocean, Indico Capital Partners, LVenture Group, and two unnamed angel investors. Ittinsect will invest such proceeds in its organic development.
Fler, an Italian startup operating in the hair removal sector that Allegra Violante and Francesca Accordi founded in 2021, raised 0.38 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The company issued hybrid equity instruments that attracted the resources of lead investor Bonsai Ventures, Francesco Agostinis, Simone Magazzù, Lorenzo Tombari, Adriano Battegazzore, Alessandro Fachin, and Elisa Rossi. The company will invest such proceeds in its organic growth and its retail expansion in Italy and abroad. The company belongs to Violante (50%), Accordi (48%) and Francesco Pezcoller (2%).
Sources said to BeBeez that Tulips, an online supermarket, signed a partnership with SFH/Modula and acquired Green Project, an Italian agricoltural company (see here a previous post by BeBeez). After such a transaction, the company expects to generate sales of 10 million euros. The sources said Tulip’s 2 million round is not yet completed although it attracted 1.5 million from an investor.
Bikeen, a marketplace for secon hands bicycles, is close to launch an equity crowdfunding campaign on Backtowork (a platform in which Intesa Sanpaolo invested) with a target of 0.1 – 0.35 million euros (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Marco Ferron and Gianluca Galliano founded Bikeen in 2020. The company received the support of the incubator t2i (Trasferimento Tecnologico Innovazione). Bikeen will invest the raised proceeds in its organic development.
HBI (Human Bio Innovation), an Italian circular economy company, launched a capital increase that attracted the resources of NovaCapital, the investment holding of Paolo Merloni, the executive chairman of Ariston Group (see here a previous post by BeBeez). HBI will invest these proceeds in its organic development. Daniele Basso, Renato Pavanetto and Carretta founded the company in 2016. HBI has sales of 11 million euros, an ebitda of minus 0.391 milion, cash of 0.56 million and equity in the region of 0.709 million.
Merakyn is a new partner of Impact Hub Società Benefit, an incubator that shortlisted Italian startups for its call for equity IH Acceleration 2022/2023, (see here a previous post by BeBeez). Merakyn, is a consultancy firm for digital communication and business development for startups and smes. The companies that joined IH Acceleration 2022/2023 operate in the sectors of environment, socialtech & welfare and cultural heritage & education. They will access a 6-months programme and receive 0.3 million euros in seed money (0.05 million seed funding, 0.02 million cash and 0.03 million in incubation services). At the end of the programme, the starups will meet potential investors at a pitching event. The selected companies for IH Acceleration 2022/2023 are: Beeing, a creator of urban beehives with IoT sensors; Take Mi Home, a digital platform that provides non-stop services for health, beauty and well-being; Welfin Società Benefit, a provider of corporate Welfare services for peer-to-peer loans to employees that have the guarantee of the company they work for. Impact Hub’s further partners are Angels4Impact, Angels4Women, Invitalia, EY (providing the startups with the consultancy services of its EY Ripples programme), Amazon Web Services (AWS) (providing AWS Activate tech services), and AB innovation Consulting (legal-tech, fundraising and blockchain).
