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The week in Italian startups - Issue #70

The week in Italian startups - Issue #70
By Niccolò Sanarico • Issue #70 • View online
Hello,
I am Niccolò from Primo Ventures. Welcome back to my digest of what happened in the Italian startup ecosystem.
In this issue: Italian founders raising funding abroad (Heroes, Eight Sleep); Newcleo raises capital for nuclear energy; My Solar Family and Kyklos are acquired; Renovacor in a SPAC merger.
Enjoy the reading, see you on the other side,
N.

The Money
  • Heroes, a London and Berlin-based startup acquiring and scaling Amazon-based brands, raised $200m. The startup was founded by Riccardo, Alessio, and Giancarlo Bruni, three brothers of Italian origin. Incidentally, on the very same day, another London-based startup with the same business model, Olsam, announced a $165m round.🚀🤯
  • Eight Sleep, a New York-based sleep technology startup founded by CEO Matteo Franceschetti, raised $86m in a Series C round led by Valor Equity Partners.
  • Newcleo, a London-based newly founded nuclear energy company, announced a $118m funding round and the acquisition of Hydromine Nuclear Energy S.à r.l. The company, founded by Stefano Buono, will open its research center in Turin. Investors include Exor, LIFFT, and Club degli Investitori.
  • CRIF, a credit & business information company based in Bologna, invested an undisclosed amount in Hong Kong-based startup Know Your Customer.
Liquidity Events
  • Evolvere, a company owned by energy giant ENI, acquired 100% of My Solar Family, a startup managing a community of photovoltaic users in Italy. Evolvere was already a shareholder in the company.
  • German company Remira acquired Kyklos Group, a company specializing in SCM software for the fashion and luxury goods industry. Remira is a company in the portfolio of PE firm Evalston, and Kyklos is the third company acquired so far in 2021.
  • Renovacor, a life sciences startup in Innogest’s portfolio, went public in a SPAC merger. The company raised $95.1m, including $30m from a PIPE.
Lawyers diversifying into venture capital
  • Lawyers and general counsels are a fundamental part of venture capital, being the ones in charge of setting up investment documents, supporting deal negotiations, and closing transactions.
  • Being on the front line means learning something about the startup market and its opportunities.
  • Hence, I am not surprised that partners at law firm LCA set up an investment vehicle, LCA Ventures, to invest in startups. They are not the first in the world, but one of the first in Italy (AFAIK!).
  • They just announced the investment in Israeli-based agritech startup TreetoScope.
A selection of positions published last week on XJobs
About XJobs:
  • The XJobs platform is a free portal listing open job positions from the Italian startup ecosystem, managed by CDP Venture Capital. If you desire, you can apply for free and have your job positions posted on the platform by following this link.
  • My old job Airtable is still online: you can explore the latest open positions here.
Ending Notes
Join the Clubhouse conversation between Giacomo Mollo and myself, commenting on the news every Monday at 6:30 pm CEST. In case you miss the live discussion, you can subscribe to the podcast on Spotify (and other podcast platforms).
Have a great week!
N.
Did you enjoy this issue?
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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