Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Webidoo, an AI-for-business startup, raised €21m in a Growth round from IXC3.

• Algorithmiq, a quantum algorithms startup, raised €18m in a Series B round from United Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, and Inventure.

• Pillar, a company building an OS for construction companies, raised €12m in a Seed round from Earlybird Venture Capital, Base10 Partners, and Italian Founders Fund.

• Gyver, an edtech startup, raised €1.4m in a Pre-seed round from Brighteye, āltitude, Vento Ventures, Zanichelli Venture, and Antler.

• Alkelux, an advanced materials startup, 🇮🇹raised €970k in a Seed round from Foodtech Accelerator S.r.l., Eatable Adventures, Accelera Ventures, Banco di Sardegna, and La Gemma Venture.

M&A 🥩

• Movopack Acquires Hipli and Enters the French Market.

Reading this week📚

• Mediolanum is 🇮🇹exploring the sale of Flowe, its digital bank | ANSA.

• M3eweb, MirAI, RogueWavesAI, WordLift 🇮🇹won a grant from the ICSC (the HC, Big Data, and Quantum Computing national research center).

• DTA and Q Station 🇮🇹launch the first Italy–USA acceleration program for space economy companies.

• GreenBone Ortho is 🇮🇹experimenting its cure for osteoporosis on board the ISS | StartupBusiness

• We are left with thinking, again | Combinatoria.

• Energy Dome, Cellply and Caracol join the EIC Scaling Club | StartupBusiness.

• Energy Dome inks a strategic commercial agreement with Google | Energy Dome.

• IVC Flywheel | Italians in VC.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• Finpal Lab (by Qonto)

• AI Salon Torino - Future Week

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Smartness, a vertical B2B SaaS in the hospitality segment, raised €47m in a Series B round from United Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, and Partech.

• Wopta Assicurazioni, an insuretech startup, 🇮🇹raised €5m in a Series A round from Make Your Credit, Holding B3 (Gruppo Calzedonia), and Business Angels.

• A-Cube, a fintech startup, raised €4m in a Series A round from P101, Sella Direct Ventures.

Reading this week📚

• Lifescience startups 🇮🇹raised €414m in 2025 | StartupBusiness.

• 'Don't pick a new Northvolt': Proxima Fusion’s CEO on how to fund ‘civilisation-changing’ green projects | Impact Loop VC.

• An 🇮🇹interview with Daniele Bernardi, Toolhouse founder | StartupItalia.

• 🇮🇹The Illusion of Competence: Why AI Makes Depth of Thought the New Scarce Good | Luigi Congedo.

• Diletta Livi 🇮🇹joins Alkemia SGR as a new partner | Financecommunity.

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More information at https://in3.ventures/webinar.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• Open Value Trento 2026

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• ViteSicure, an insuretech startup, raised €2.5m in a Series A round from Ad4Ventures and Net Insurance.

• Always Friday, an AI organizer for corporate events, raised €1.05m in a Pre-seed round from Vento Ventures, P3 Ventures, Marco Migliore, and Arnaldo Borghesi.

The Money International 💰🌎

• Hypervision Surgical raised €17m in a Series A round from Heal Capital, Angelini Ventures, IP Group, Daycrest, Heran Partners, Redalpine, LifeX Ventures, Zeiss Ventures, Sinc, and Macmillan Cancer Support.

• QuoIntelligence raised €7.3m in a Series A round from Elevator Ventures, BMH Beteiligungs Managementgesellschaft Hessen, eCAPITAL ENTREPRENEURIAL PARTNERS, and Mercurius Private Equity.

M&A 🥩

Reading this week📚

• The Golinelli Foundation invested one million euros in Almacube, the innovation hub of the University of Bologna and Confindustria Emilia Area Centro.

• Italy’s Bending Spoons aims for a $20B valuation in a possible US IPO: reports — TFN.

• 10 female-led startups to 🇮🇹follow in 2026 | SheTech.

• Q1 2026 Italy Market Snapshot | PitchBook.

• 🇮🇹Italian Tech Landscape | La Tech Made in Italy.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Python Data Developer at Vocations

• Founder in Residence - Sport & Collectibles Online Platform at Human Vs Machine

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• BSUP #31: Michele Pagani - si può crescere senza andare in burn out?

• AI Salon Rome

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• NOB-Imatra, a sport-tech startup , raised €5m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital and Fintech Partners.

• BlockInvest, a blockchain-based asset tokenization startup, raised €4m in a Growth round from UniCredit.

• PepTiDa, Caa2ad, Lactothera, Keynon Lab 🇮🇹raised €2.5m in a seed round from Mnesys scarl.

• Domyn, an AI startup, raised an undisclosed round from BNY and Rabobank.

M&A 🥩

• Namirial 🇮🇹acquired Future Technology Lead.

• Oròbix Joins Domyn to Build a European AI Leader; Luca Antiga Named CTO.

• Genenta signs Definitive Agreements with Sophia High Tech | Genenta Science.

Reading this week📚

• Intesa Sanpaolo and Vertis SGR 🇮🇹enter into a partnership to invest in startups from Southern Italy.

• Alessandra Grendele has been 🇮🇹appointed general manager at Conio | EconomyUp.

• Growth Capital & ITA published their Venture Capital Report for Q1 2026.

• Luca Foresti and Andrea Di Camillo: 🇮🇹Come fare il Venture Capital (podcast) | Spotify.

• The Operators revolution | Irene Mingozzi.

• You know things are bad when YC feels the need to post this:

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Python Data Developer at Vocations

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Casavo, a proptech startup, raised €12.9m in a Growth round from Project A, Picus Capital, EVRG 18, and Salica Investments.

• Smartwage, a welfare startup, raised €2m in a Pre-seed round from Step Fund, and Zest.

• Cato, a public tender assistant, 🇮🇹raised €1.6m in a Pre-seed round from Italian Founders Fund, Heartfelt, Vento, BHeroes, Moonstone, Alecla7, Nova, and business angels.

• Neocad, a smart engineering startup, raised €550k in a Pre-seed round from 40Jemz Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Zest, Coima, Ariston, and Nova Capital.

• Zell, a sales-tech startup, raised €0.5m in a Seed round from P3 Ventures, SkyDeck Europe, UC Berkeley SkyDeck, Lendlease, Cariplo Factory, Mamba Ventures, Nicola Pivaro, Flavio Di Palo, Pietro Tansini, Thomas Hunziker, Gabriele Sidoti, and Ricardo Waller.

New funds 💫

• Radical Partners, a fund-of-funds operator, launches its call for pitches from VCs:

M&A 🥩

• Mavriq completes acquisition of Switcho: 100% Exit closes | Mamacrowd.

• Libraesva and Cyber Guru Complete Strategic Combination and Launch LibraCyber, a New European Cybersecurity Leader.

• Lutech acquired Valyrian Enterprise Solutions.

Reading this week📚

• JetHR 🇮🇹launches a new Enterprises division | MilanoFinanza.

• You’re the best, the most brilliant, there’s nobody in the world like you | Matteo Flora.

• An 🇮🇹interview with Guido Brera, founder of Be Water, about global finance, energy, and the impact of AI | Repubblica.

• Cryptobooks 🇮🇹becomes Finbooks and expands its product offering.

• 🇮🇹An interview with Gianluca Dettori (Primo Capital) | La Stampa.

• The signs of the SaaSpocalypse are increasing:

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Commercial Co-Founder (m/f/x), ClimateTech Startup at Nebith Ltd

• Legal Counsel - Associate at Tech Europe Foundation

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• AI Salon Torino

• AI Salon Rome

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Niulinx, an autonomous taxi startup, raised €38m in a Early-stage round from a2a, CDP Venture Capital, Ferrovie dello Stato, Pirelli, Falck Family Office, VCPartners, MOST, Stefano Bernardi, Emilio Frazzoli.

• TeiaCare, a residential care startup, raised €7m in a Growth round from P101 SGR, Namarel, and Inderhabs.

• CareGlance S.r.l., an industrial monitoring startup, raised €3.5m in a Seed round from CDP Venture Capital, Eureka Venture SGR, and LIFTT.

The Money International 🌎

• Angelini Ventures invested in Lab0.

Reading this week📚

• The European Commission approves €211 million Italian State aid measure to support photonic chips development.

• Four investors answer: "🇮🇹Would you invest in a startup made by AI agents?"

• From fragmented funding to growing maturity: the Italian tech ecosystem | tech.eu

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• SDR – Sales Development Representative at Data Masters

• Customer Success Manager at Vocations

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• Silicon Drinkabout Rome: pitch + networking (founders + digital workers)

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Q1 2026 in Italian Startups

Quick notes from the first quarter:

1. The quarter closed below expectations: the second worst in the last 5 years1.

   

2. The top 10 rounds show one clear outlier, D-Orbit, and the only one in plausible “unicorn area”:

   

3. CDP is the most prolific investor, by far:

   

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Wearable Robotics, a robotics startup, raised €5m in a Series A round from CDP Venture Capital, MITO Technology, LIFTT, SIMEST, RoboIT, and Toscana Next.

• Capsule Corporation, a space-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €0.8m in a Seed round from Cdp Venture Capital Sgr (Takeoff Accelerator), kopa ventures, Moonstone Venture Capital, and business angel.

The Money - International 🌎

• Depthfirst, a cybersecurity startup, raised €80m in a Series B round from Meritech Capital, Forerunner Ventures, The House Fund, Accel, Box Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alt Capital, and Mantis VC.

• NEOH, an Austrian foodtech startup, raised an undisclosed round from Linfa (Riello Investimenti Sgr), and international partners.

M&A🥩

• Znext 🇮🇹acquired Factanza.

• Bending Spoons acquired Tractive.

Reading this week📚

• P101 released the State of Italian VC report.

• An 🇮🇹interview with Alessia Paccagnella, founder of VibeFlow.

• WhatsApp notifies hundreds of users who installed a fake app made by government spyware maker | TechCrunch.

• TIM and CDP Venture Capital sign a MoU to promote innovation and development of italian startups and technologies.

• 2026 Market Overview | Hamilton Lane.

• Logan Bartlett (Redpoint Ventures): "Reflections on the State of the Software and AI Market" | X.com

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Legal Counsel - Associate at Tech Europe Foundation (TEF)

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Trifoglio, a startup operating in the carwash space, 🇮🇹raised €30m in a round from various investors including Luca Pretto and Paolo Frigati.

• Subbyx, a consumer electronics-as-a-service platform, raised €30m in a Series A round from Systemiq Capital, Azimut, and Flashpoint.

• Dronus, a startup developing industrial drones, 🇮🇹raised €15m in a Growth round from Algebris, Azimut ELTIF Venture Capital ALIcrowd III/IV, CDP Venture Capital, SIMEST, and Eni Next.

• Foreverland, a food-tech startup, raised €6m in a early-stage round from Kost Capital, Maia Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Linfa agrifoodtech fund, and Newtree Impact.

New funds 💫

• 360 Capital announces €85M close for Poli360 2, targeting €100M.

Reading this week📚

• Tether hires KPMG for USDT audit, brings in PwC as it gears up for U.S. expansion.

• The Italian EdTech market is 🇮🇹worth €2.7bn and 11,000 employees.

• Lorenzo Pireddu 🇮🇹appointed managing director for Qonto Southern Europe.

• EDIH PRIDE 🇮🇹announced an innovation contest for Hitachi rails - calling for startups developing in the artificial intelligence and cybersecurity sectors

Listening this week 🔈

• A while ago I was interviewed by the good guys at UNICORNI podcast. Here’s our conversation about the current status of VC, how the job evolved in the last decade, unicorns vs dragoons and other mythical animals. In 🇮🇹Italian!

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• UpSurgeOn, a medtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €5m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital SGR, Simest S.p.A., Deep Blue Ventures, Azimut Libera Impresa SGR S.p.A., and FBH S.p.A.

• Alomana, an AI startup, raised €4m in a seed round from CDP Venture Capital, Italia Venture II – Fondo Imprese Sud, Founders Factory, Kairos Ventures ESG One, Gresilent Holdings, Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), and Club degli Investitori.

• CiaoDott, an AI startup, raised €1.5m in a Pre-seed round from The Techshop, Vento, Club degli Investitori, Growth Engine, and Alpha Venture.

Reading this week📚

• Italian AI company Ipazia 🇮🇹ranked first in ServiceNow BrowserGym leaderboard.

• EU Inc, the first step towards a company incorporated under European law.

• Rai Way 🇮🇹announces new data center in Pomezia.

• The GTM Flywheel Behind $7M ARR | X

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Latest entries:

• AI Salon Rome: OpenClaw Workshop con Urbe Hub.

• AI | Capitali | Codice Chi guida davvero la trasformazione? L’intelligenza artificiale tra equity, impresa e algoritmi.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Cleafy, a fraud prevention startup, raised €12m in a Growth round from United Ventures, and eCAPITAL.

• Gyala, a cybersecurity startup, 🇮🇹raised €4m in a Growth round from Deep Ocean SGR, Terna Forward, CDP Venture Capital, and Ventive.

• Mirai Robotics, a startup developing autonomous vehicles for the maritime sector, raised €3.5m in a Pre-seed round from Primo Capital, Techshop, and 40Jemz Ventures.

• Accudire, a supply-chain digitalization startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a seed round from Business Angels

• Mr. Franz (soon to be renamed to HINT), a travel companion startup, 🇮🇹raised €500k in a Pre-seed round from Business Angels.

• IperMoney, a fintech startup, raised an undisclosed amount in a Seed round from 3M Stp.

New Funds

• Lumen II 🇮🇹announced its first closing.

M&A 🥩

• TeamSystem 🇮🇹acquired Nibol.

Reading this week📚

• Neura Robotics raised €1bn from Tether.

• Italian Legal BERT: A pre-trained Transformer Language Model for Italian Law | Hugging Face.

• An 🇮🇹interview with Lexroom cofounders.

• Services: The New Software | Sequoia.

• Too Big to Succeed | Odin.

• AI x Product: Use Cases for the Application Layer | Tommaso Moraca.

• Insane resilience:

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Latest entries:

• Plug and Play Italy Summit

• Aperitif for entrepreneurs and innovation enthusiasts in Bologna

• Aperitif for entrepreneurs and innovation enthusiasts in Florence

• Aperitif for entrepreneurs and innovation enthusiasts in Rome

• 14° Ai Salon Torino

• BSUP - Fare startup ai tempi dell’AI

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• ISAAC, a solution to improve earthquake resilience for buildings, 🇮🇹raised €14m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital, 360 Capital Partners, Axon Partners Group, Gruppo Azimut, Ring Capital, and NovaCapital.

• Techvisory, an AI advisory and product startup, raised €2.5m in a Early-stage round from institutional investors.

• Qura, an health management startup, raised €1.5m in a Pre-seed round from United Ventures, Vento, and Italian Angels for Growth (IAG).

• Flowy, a data startup for mobility,🇮🇹raised €1m in a seed round from CrossConnect, Business Angels and Maggioli Group.

• Roboze, a smart manufacturing startup, raised an undisclosed amount in a Growth round from Rule 1 Ventures, Privcorp Ventures, Heather Podesta, Gary Ang, Tholus Capital, Ferrari Family Office, Federico Faggin, and Rialto Venture Capital.

• Rent2Cash, a cash advance startup for home owners, raised €100m in a debt and equity round from International investment fund with expertise in structured finance and real estate-linked operations.

The Money - Italians abroad💰🌎

• Eight Sleep raised a Growth round from Tether Investments at a €1.5b valuation.

New Funds

• Atempo Growth 🇮🇹raised €455m for its venture debt fund.

M&A 🥩

• Onetag acquired Aryel.

Reading this week📚

• Francesco Simoneschi (CEO, TrueLayer) interviewed on Tech.eu podcast | Tech.eu

• Female Innovation Index 2026 | Female Foundry.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Sinergy Flow, an energy-tech startup, raised €7m in a Late-stage round from CDP Venture Capital, 360 Capital, Tech4Planet, and Exergon.

• AutoConnexa, an insuretech startup, raised €4.4m in a Early-stage round from CDP Venture Capital, Crédit Agricole, Club degli Investitori, Lumen II, MBSpeedUp, ITAS Mutua, and Doorway.

• Quido, an AI startup for finance, 🇮🇹raised €1.6m in a Seed round from Vertis sgr, Frontech, SevenData, and Edrom.

The Money - Italians abroad💰🌎

• Proxima Fusion raised €400m in a Growth round from Bavaria, RWE, IPP (Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics).

• Axelera AI raised €250m in a Growth round from Innovation Industries, BlackRock, SiteGround Capital, Bitfury, CDP Venture Capital, European Innovation Council Fund, and others.

• YOU(th) Health Tech raised €4.5m in a Early-stage round from Callisto Health, caesar., adesso Ventures, Antler, Moonstone, 1024 Ventures, and others.

M&A 🥩

• Var Group acquired Innotech.

Reading this week📚

• Adaptronics and Fluid Wire Robotics each 🇮🇹received a €2.5m grant from the EIC Accelerator.

• Agentic AI Is a Massive Opportunity for B2B Software.

• 🇮🇹The Swiss opportunity for Italian food-tech startups | IndustriaItaliana.

Tech Transfer Academy - Powered by ITA

Starting March 11, Italian Tech Alliance launches the first edition of the Tech Transfer Academy: a program designed to bridge the gap between research and the market by providing a roadmap to transform discoveries into enterprises and fostering dialogue among key ecosystem players.The program includes 6 sessions (Wednesdays, 12:00–14:00 CET): 4 online and 2 hybrid (in-person in Milan + streaming) for the Opening and Closing. The journey concludes on April 29 with an exclusive site visit to the Human Technopole Foundation in Milan (limited seats, registration required).Apply by March 6 EOD. You can find all the details, download the full program, and submit your application here.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Operations Assistant (Internship) at TennisTalker

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

• Italian Tech Week 🇮🇹becomes Wave by Vento.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Contents, a mar-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €7m in a Series B round from Qatar Development Bank, and Alkemia Capital.

• NANDO, an AI waste monitoring startup, raised €3.3m in a Growth round from Maia Ventures, CDP Venture Capital SGR, Fondo Piemonte Next, Club degli Investitori, LA4G, and EMBA Capital Partners.

• Kampaay, a corporate events startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a Series A round from CDP Venture Capital, Kairos Partners, and Doorway.

• K3RX, a new materials startup, raised €1.65m in a Seed round from Deep Ocean Capital and RoboIT.

• GenoGra, a genomic analysis startup, raised €1m in a Pre-seed round from Maia Ventures (Praesidium SA) PM Holding, and Terra Next.

• Intuos, an AI-IoT software platform, raised €720k in a Seed round from Argo, Techstars, Ventive, and business angels.

• Xference.ai, an inference-as-a-service platform, 🇮🇹raised €700k in a Pre-seed round from Bastiano Sanna, Niccolò Perra, and other business angels.

M&A 🥩

• eBay to acquire Depop from Etsy.

Reading this week📚

• FT ranking: Europe’s leading start-up hubs 2026 | FT.

• AI: The Wrong Kind of Bubble | Sameer Singh.

• The Due Diligence Playbook: What VCs Actually Analyse Before They Invest | Chris Tottman.

Tech Transfer Academy - Powered by ITA

Starting March 11, Italian Tech Alliance launches the first edition of the Tech Transfer Academy: a program designed to bridge the gap between research and the market by providing a roadmap to transform discoveries into enterprises and fostering dialogue among key ecosystem players.The program includes 6 sessions (Wednesdays, 12:00–14:00 CET): 4 online and 2 hybrid (in-person in Milan + streaming) for the Opening and Closing. The journey concludes on April 29 with an exclusive site visit to the Human Technopole Foundation in Milan (limited seats, registration required).Apply by March 6 EOD. You can find all the details, download the full program, and submit your application here.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Founder’s Associate - Operations at MicroSignals, Inc.

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• Silicon Drinkabout Italy a Roma: networking event

• Scaleup Summit Turin 2026

• 13° Ai Salon Torino in OGR Torino

• 2nd Milan Hardware Meetup

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• BeNewtral, a clean-tech startup developing new materials for construction, 🇮🇹raised €7m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital, NovaCapital, Eureka! Venture SGR, Tech4Planet, and Edoardo Vernazza.

• MON5, a cybersecurity for critical infrastructure startup, raised €1.7m in a Seed round from Primo Capital (Primo Space) and Forward Factory.

• EXE Engineering, a clean-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €550k in a Seed round from Eni Next and CDP Venture Capital.

M&A 🥩

• Röko acquired a majority stake in Lambda SpA from Primo Capital.

Reading this week📚

• Italy, Kenya and the United Nations Development Program 🇮🇹organized the Nairobi AI Forum | StartupBusiness.

• Tool Shaped Objects | X.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

New this week:

• Product Designer at Pillar SRL

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• AI Salon Roma

• AI Salon Bologna - AI & Sustainability

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Newcleo, a French and Italian startup working on nuclear power, raised €75m in a Growth round from Kairos, Indaco Ventures, Azimut, CERN pension fund, Walter Tosto, Danieli & C, Cementir Holding NV, Orion Valves, and NextChem.

• LianeCare, a platform for caregivers, raised €1m in a Seed round from Zest, Apside, and Italian business angels.

• Omney, a financial education startup, 🇮🇹raised €510k in a Pre-seed round from undisclosed investors.

Reading this week📚

• Retelit invested €100 million in two new AI-ready data centers in Milan Bisceglie | Retelit.

• Space start-up Alpha Impulsion receives the European “Game-Changing Innovation” prize worth €950,000.

• The 7 Deadly Sins of Venture Capital in Italy (with a bonus map of the Italian VC ecosystem 🗺️) | Startup Wise Guys.

• Baby VC is opening applications to their next bootcamp campus.

• Protocol Agent: What If Agents Could Use Cryptography In Everyday Life?

• What’s in store for European deeptech in 2026, according to investors | Sifted.

• The hubs to pay more attention to in 2026 (featuring Milan) | Sifted.

• YC’s Spring shopping list | YCombinator.

Watching this week 🎥

A 🇮🇹video interview with Giulio Michelon and myself discussing how a VC fund works | Youtube.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

New this week:

• INNOVATION MEETUP - Roma

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Postura Ergonomics, an AI health-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.75m in a Early-stage round from CDP Venture Capital SGR and Indaba.

• Bandosubito, a fintech platform for grants, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a Early-stage round from Zest, CDP VC, OpenT, Apside, Fin+Tech accelerator, and Andrea Piol.

🤝 M&A

• Smart Capital, CrowdFundMe, and WeAreStarting 🇮🇹signed a merger agreement to create a new listed group for SME finance.

• TeamSystem 🇮🇹acquired AIG Classic.

Reading this week📚

• Tether Delivers $10B+ Profits in 2025, $6.3B in Excess Reserves, and Record $141 billion Exposure in U.S. Treasury Holdings | Tether.io.

• Genenta Announces Strategic Transformation into a Biotech, Defense, Aerospace, and National Security Industrial Consolidator | Genenta Science.

• The hubs to pay more attention to in 2026 (Milan is the Italian city among them) | Sifted.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

• AI Voice Agent Hackathon powered by ElevenLabs - Milan

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• D-Orbit, a space-tech company, 🇮🇹raised €110m in a Growth round from Azimut.

• BRUM, an EdTech startup, raised €5m in a Early-stage round from Italian Founders Fund.

• Elai, an AI startup, 🇮🇹raised €3m in a Early-stage round from AI Acceleration, Zest, and CDP Venture Capital.

• Robin Health, an health-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a Pre-seed round from Step Fund.

• Lab-go, an anti-counterfeiting startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.4m in a Early-stage round from a pool of Italian and Swiss business angels.

• Dilica Srl, the creator of the open source library Mosaico, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a Pre-seed round from Connect Ventures and Vento.

New Funds 💫

• Travel Tech 2 🇮🇹raised €50m to invest in travel tech startups across Europe.

Reading this week📚

• Startup Dogs: 🇮🇹an interview with Luca Foresti, founder of Clinica Santagostino | Spotify.

• 🇮🇹Innovation in the Italian space economy, a joint research by LIUC and PoliMi.

Venture Capital Report FY 25

Italian Tech Alliance and Growth Capital released their Venture Capital Report FY25. Follow the link to read the full report. Below, the slides that most caught my eye:

• The growth rate of the amount invested in Italy is one of the highest in EU.

• Median and mean values at the pre-seed and seed stages are well below European peers.

• Same for Series As and Series B

• Exit activity is lacklustre, with very few “headline” deals (e.g. Arduino→Qualcomm, Prima Assicurazioni → AXA):

  

• International investors activity has been trending up:

  

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Carol, a digital health startup, 🇮🇹raised €6.5m in a Growth round from Futura SGR and P101 SGR.

• Rara Factory, a startup applying AI to finding novel materials and compounds, 🇮🇹raised €3.2m in a Seed round from Primo Capital, CDP Venture Capital, and Alberto Baban.

• Small Pixels, an AI-based video enhancement startup, raised €1.67m in a Early-stage round from Match Ventures SCSp, Frontech s.r.l., National Technology Transfer Center for AI & Cybersecurity, and Fondo Toscana Next.

• Bricks.sh, a AI-first admin panels builder for non-tech teams, raised €1.6m in a Pre-seed round from Primo Capital, Octopus First Cheque Fund, Eden Ventures, Vesper Holding, and Vento.

• Butterfly Decisions, a decision support platform, 🇮🇹raised €1.2m in a Early-stage round from Vertis SGR, CyberXcelerator, and business angels including Maria Grazia Campanile.

• Liv4, an AI-assisted process monitoring startup, 🇮🇹raised €0.5m in a Pre-seed round from Bernhard Konzet, Claudio Ognibene, Sean Milloy, Giovanni Giunchedi, Intesa Sanpaolo, and Banca d'Imola.

The Money - Italians in the world 🌎

• Klearly raised €12m in a Series A round from PayPal Ventures, Italian Founders Fund, Global PayTech Ventures, Antler Elevate, and Shapers.

M&A🥩

• Starting Finance 🇮🇹acquired Talkin Pills.

Reading this week📚

• 🇮🇹According to the EY Venture Capital Barometer, the Italian VC market reached almost €1.5b. The bottom line: Italy is growing but still lags behind its European peers.

• AI Agents Map (already too many of them?).

• 🇮🇹A brief history of Muscope | StartupItalia (spoiler: Primo Capital is the unmentioned Italian fund 😁).

• Primo Perspectives: 🇮🇹why decarbonization needs new materials | Primo Capital.

• Vado 🇮🇹entered into a partnership with Nexi to digitalize vending machine payments.

• The AI revolution is here. Will the economy survive the transition?

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Newest entries:

• Product Manager (Founding team) at Hale

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Newest entries:

• BSUP #29 - CSMT Startup Boost

• AI Salon Bologna

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Lever Bio, a cancer immunotherapy startup, extended its seed round to €9m, raising from Claris Ventures, Ora Global, Club degli Investitori, and Italian Angels for Growth.

• Principled Intelligence, an AI-alignment startup, raised €1.85m in a Pre-seed round from Polo Nazionale di Trasferimento Tecnologico per l'Intelligenza Artificiale e la Cybersecurity, BlackSheep, and Eden Ventures.

• Pipein, a robotic inspection company, 🇮🇹raised €1.1m in a Growth round from BlueRobots, Fondo PiemonteNext-Comparto Due, and RoboIT.

• Dresso, a fashion-tech startup, raised €1m in a Early-stage round from undisclosed investors.

The Money - Italians in the world 🌎

• Even Healthcare raised €20m in a Growth round from Lachy Groom, Alpha Wave, and Sharrp Ventures.

M&A🥩

• Ping Identity acquired Keyless.

Reading this week📚

• 🇮🇹Three Italian investors weigh in on the AI bubble | Startupitalia.

• 🇮🇹Pizzatech Podcast: storie di startup e tech founder italiani all’estero | A podcast about Italian founders building abroad, by Pizza Tech.

• Casavo is 🇮🇹raising €12m in a controversial round that is diluting to zero existing shareholders.

• Satispay 🇮🇹expanded its wealth management offering with three new funds.

• AMD x Generative Bionics: Gene.01 Unveiled at CES 2026 | Generative Bionics.

• Are “Consensus” Seed Rounds Better? | AngelList.

2025 at a glance

In a few weeks we will be flooded by detailed analyses about the last year in VC in Italy, but let me serve you an appetizer from my tracker:

1. 2025 was the second best year on (my) record in terms of capital raised by Italian startups - about €1.6Bn:

   

2. Q4 2025 was the best quarter on (my) record for capital raised:

   

3. In the list of the 10 biggest rounds raised in the year, Exein appeared twice (#3 and #5). Good performance from biotech (AAVantgarde Bio #2, NanoPhoria #4), and an unexpected but very welcome humanoid robotics player (Generative Bionics, #6). Bending Spoons was #1.

4. The most active investors in terms of mentions include (overwhelmingly and unsurprisingly) CDP Venture Capital, mentioned in more than 60 rounds; Vento (18) and Azimut (12) complete the podium. Primo Capital (10), Club Degli Investitori (9), Italian Founders Fund (9) follow.

5. Some statistics about the rounds in my tracker:

   1. # of rounds: 244

      1. About half labelled “pre-seed” or “seed” in the news articles.

   2. Median: €2.1m

   3. Average: €6.6m

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Newest entries:

• Investment Associate at Primo Capital

• VC Ecosystem Analyst internship at Italian Tech Alliance

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Newest entries:

• INNOVATION MEETUP - Milano

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

N.

Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.

The Money 💰

• Exein, a cybersecurity startup, raised €100m in a Growth round from Blue Cloud Ventures, HV Capital, Intrepid Growth Partners, Geodesic Capital, and J.P. Morgan.

• Limenet, a startup producing carbon-free lime, 🇮🇹raised €7m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital and Fassa Bortolo.

• Haptena Therapeutics, a biotech startup, raised €3m in a Seed round from Claris Ventures.

• ChemiCare, a biotech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.5m in a Seed round from CDP Venture Capital SGR, Bio4Dreams, and Bridge4Pharma.

• TeachCorner, an edtech startup, raised €1.05m in a Early-stage round from Ad4Ventures, Urban Venture, Pamventure, and Clarkson Hyde Advisory.

Reading this week📚

• Two new 🇮🇹investments for Terna Forward: Hibot and Hypermeteo | Startupitalia.

• Nexi Rejects TPG’s €1 Billion Bid for Digital Banking Unit | Bloomberg.

• ITALY: About 42% of teenagers turn to AI when they feel sad, anxious, or for life decisions | Save The Children.

• E4 Computer Engineering issued first tokenized bond in Italy.

• The era of jobs is ending.

• The AI Supercycle Has Arrived | Battery Ventures

• We Let AI Run Our Office Vending Machine. It Lost Hundreds of Dollars | WSJ

• 2025 LLM Year in Review | Andrej Karpathy on X

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Newest entries:

• CEO Shadow (Internship) at Over Ventures

• Senior Account Executive at Plino.ai

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

Giacomo Mollo and I comment weekly on the latest news: subscribe to our podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, and other platforms to get additional insights on what is happening in the Italian ecosystem.

This is the last issue of TWIS for 2025. It was a good year for the Italian market, all in all. Now it’s time to take a small break, catch some energy, and get ready to dive into 2026.

Happy new Year, dear reader, see you in a few weeks!

N.