Dec 20, 2020

The week in Italian startups - Issue #38

By Niccolò Sanarico • Issue #38 • View online

Hello,

I am Niccolò and this is my overview of what happened last week in the Italian startup ecosystem.

In this issue: as expected, lots of new rounds were announced in the last 7 days; Utopia, a new life science investment vehicle; CDP Venture Capital announces a new accelerator; the new investment director of ENEA Tech “Climate” presents his investment thesis.

Enjoy the reading, and see you on the other side!

The Money

Termo, the provider of a digital service platform for sustainable HVAC systems installation and maintenance for households, raised €8.5M from Fondo Italiano di Investimento (through its Tech Growth funds) and a pool of other investors.
Wonderflow, an Amsterdam-based provider of customer feedback & insights solutions, raised €2M in a round led by P101.
Conio, a Milan and California-based Bitcoin company, raised $14M from Banca Generali.
Milano Investments Partners, an Italian fund specialized in consumer and lifestyle businesses,🇪🇸invested €7M in Valencia-based Maskokotas, an e-commerce for pets.
Aurora Science, a Milan-based life sciences investment firm, led an €11.4M investment round in Peptomyc, a Barcelona-based biotech company.
Tulips, an online-only supermarket (think “dark store for groceries”), 🇮🇹raised €3M from MTH Holding.
Maieutical Labs, the developer of an adaptive digital homework platform, 🇮🇹 raised €550K from Liftt and Net4Capital.
EasyPol, a digital payments app specialized in payments to the public administration, 🇮🇹raised €500K from a syndicate including CDP Venture Capital, Nana Bianca, Fondazione CR Firenze, and others.
Japal, an e-commerce-as-a-service startup, raised €250K in a convertible note.
Factanza Media, a “social news” startup, 🇮🇹 received a €30K convertible from Primomiglio and entered its acceleration program, run by dpixel.

M&A

Spanish firm Seedtag Advertising SL acquired the Italian competitor Atomikad. Price undisclosed.
Innovative-RFK [MLIRF.PA], a private equity firm, 🇮🇹 acquired 20% of WAC, an Amazon partner specialized in bringing businesses on the Amazon marketplace.

Utopia

Fondazione Golinelli and Fondazione di Sardegna joined forces to 🇮🇹 launch Utopia, an investment vehicle dedicated to life sciences startups. Utopia will be a “simple investment company” (società di investimento semplice), among the first adopting the recent Italian legislation that introduced this new type of vehicle.

A new CDP-sponsored Accelerator

CDP Venture Capital 🇮🇹 launched a new accelerator, this time in partnership with Digital Magics, Startupbootcamp, and Fintech District, aimed at fintech and insuretech startups.
CDP committed €1.65M, to be invested in up to 50 startups for the next 3 years.
CDP has the goal of supporting 20 different acceleration programs, each one specialized in a market segment that is strategic for the Italian economy.

ENEA Tech and its climate strategy

Fresh in his new role, Stefano Bernardi set out his investment thesis as director of the Green, Energy and Circular Economy investment vertical sponsored by Fondazione ENEA Tech.

Ending Notes

This is the last issue of this newsletter for 2020 - this year has been a rollercoaster and I REALLY need a break. See you again in January 2021!

Thank you for following so far. As always, I will highly appreciate it if you share this newsletter with a friend!

Stay safe, and best wishes to you and your families,

Nico

Supported by VC Hub Italia

Did you enjoy this issue?

By Niccolò Sanarico

The week in Italian startups is a weekly collection of the most interesting news in the Italian startup ecosystem, with a focus on funding rounds, milestones, major partnerships, and innovation news. The weekly email will be in your inbox on Monday morning(-ish).

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This newsletter is supported by the Italian Tech Alliance (https://www.italiantechalliance.com/).

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