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 💰

• WeRoad 🇮🇹raised €10m in a Growth round from UniCredit (club deal with over 100 Ultra High Net Worth clients).

• Aflabox, a food-tech startup, raised €1.35m in a Seed round from FoodSeed and Farming Future.

• Como 1907 Ventures 🇮🇹invested an undisclosed amount in Collecto.

M&A 🥩

• Bending Spoons acquired Airtable.

• CDP 🇮🇹acquired T-Defense from Tinexta.

• Flatmates 🇮🇹acquired LaCrème.

Reading this week📚

• A video 🇮🇹interview with Gianluca Dettori (Primo Capital) about the future of technology.

• Leonardo Capital Sim 🇮🇹acquired a 5% stake in Weltix.

• AIRTABLE ACQUISITION: WHO GETS THE 💰 HOME:

• Board Meetings 101 (for Early Stage Founders):

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:

• Pitch, Investitori & Riflettori · Startup Night a 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.

[Sponsored] Venture Academy by Italian Tech Alliance 7th Edition – Applications Now Open! 🚀

Italian Tech Alliance has launched the seventh edition of the Venture Academy, kicking off on September 23rd, 2026. Running until December 16th, the program features 12 online sessions held every Wednesday (12:00–14:00 CET), alongside 4 special in-person lessons in Milan (Opening), Turin (#3), Rome (#10), and Milan (Closing & Diploma Ceremony 🎓).

Applications are open until September 18th (EOD) via the registration form on this page🔗, where you can also download the full program and check out the faculty.

The Opening Lesson, “The Venture Capital Fundamentals”, will be held live at the Italian Tech Alliance office in Milan (Corso Magenta 59, MI) on the 23 September, and is free to attend for non-enrolled participants as well, subject to seat availability.

The Money 💰

• Datapizza, an AI startup, raised €10m in a Series A round from Nextalia Ventures.

• Scuter, a mobility startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.5m in a Seed round from Vertis Venture, Pathfinder Investor, b-yond ventures, Nova Capital, Maya Investments, Alessandro Fracassi, Matteo Fago, Marco Trombetti, Claudio Erba, Antonio Baldassarra, Andrea Pietrini, Federico Dettori, Ernesto Ciorra, Giancarlo Aliberti, Alessandro Palmieri, and Fausta Pavesio.

• Beelzebub, a cybersecurity startup, raised €3m in a Seed round from United Ventures.

• Revismart, a legal-tech startup, raised €500k in a Pre-seed round from 40Jemz Ventures, Stefano Ceci, and other angel investors.

Reading this week📚

• Primo Perspectives | Predictive Maintenance | Primo Capital.

• 52 startups 🇮🇹were selected to join this year’s edition of Unicredit StartLab | Teleborsa.

• The Mediterranean Earth observation market is 🇮🇹already worth €2b | Ilsole24ore.

• €500 million credit facility for Bending Spoons | StartupBusiness.

• IBM and Algorithmiq Demonstrate Quantum Advantage, Establishing a Framework for Trusted Quantum Computation Beyond Classical Verification.

• Italian Founders Fund open sourced their standard investment docs, starting from the termsheet.

• In related news, Italian Founders Fund 🇮🇹announced the final closing at €100m.

• Human Capital in Venture Capital: Evidence From 100,000 Venture Capitalists.

• YC opensourced their internal agent harness.

• Tool-enabled agents >> Consumer chat bots:

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:

• Product Heroes Conference 2026 (there are discounted tickets for eligible startups, check it out)

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.

[Sponsored] Venture Academy by Italian Tech Alliance 7th Edition – Applications Now Open! 🚀

Italian Tech Alliance has launched the seventh edition of the Venture Academy, kicking off on September 23rd, 2026. Running until December 16th, the program features 12 online sessions held every Wednesday (12:00–14:00 CET), alongside 4 special in-person lessons in Milan (Opening), Turin (#3), Rome (#10), and Milan (Closing & Diploma Ceremony 🎓).

Applications are open until September 18th (EOD) via the registration form on this page🔗, where you can also download the full program and check out the faculty.

The Opening Lesson, “The Venture Capital Fundamentals”, will be held live at the Italian Tech Alliance office in Milan (Corso Magenta 59, MI) on the 23 September, and is free to attend for non-enrolled participants as well, subject to seat availability.

The Money 💰

• Circular Materials, a clean-tech startup, raised €11.8m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital, European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, EIT RawMaterials, 360 Capital, Corbites, and Lumar S.r.l.

• Oris, a space-tech startup,🇮🇹 raised €5m in a Pre-seed round from Earlybird, Pitchdrive, Galaxia, Vento, and Fondo Piemonte Next.

• Talentware, an hr-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.3m in a Seed round from CDP Venture Capital SGR, 360 Capital, 035 Investimenti, New Gate, and several Business Angels.

New funds💫

• 360CP announced LV 360 2, a 15m fund dedicated to deep tech startups in Lombardy.

M&A🥩

• Circeus (formerly ShopCircle) acquired Dondy. (disclaimer: Primo Capital is a shareholder in Circeus).

• Contents 🇮🇹acquired Baliou.

Reading this week📚

• H1 2026 is behind us and it is time to run the numbers: we have 2 different reports this week: 🇮🇹VeM’s, reporting a headline number of €679m raised by Italian startups in 117 rounds, vs Growth Capital’s €813m raised in 145 rounds. As always, accounting strategies differ among each methodology.

• This is going to be controversial:

• Lake Como Venture Lab 🇮🇹selected CleanOS, Fraido, Prometheus Plasma.

• Make good introductions, build strong alliances, win. | Reid Hoffman.

• Capital Allocation Is Dead.

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:

• To The Peak 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.

[Sponsored] Venture Academy by Italian Tech Alliance 7th Edition – Applications Now Open! 🚀

Italian Tech Alliance has launched the seventh edition of the Venture Academy, kicking off on September 23rd, 2026. Running until December 16th, the program features 12 online sessions held every Wednesday (12:00–14:00 CET), alongside 4 special in-person lessons in Milan (Opening), Turin (#3), Rome (#10), and Milan (Closing & Diploma Ceremony 🎓).

Applications are open until September 18th (EOD) via the registration form on this page🔗, where you can also download the full program and check out the faculty.

The Opening Lesson, “The Venture Capital Fundamentals”, will be held live at the Italian Tech Alliance office in Milan (Corso Magenta 59, MI) on the 23 September, and is free to attend for non-enrolled participants as well, subject to seat availability.

The Money 💰

• Nous, a foodtech startup, raised €2.3m in a Seed round from dsm-firmenich Ventures, FoodSeed, and Eatable Adventures.

• Doctorsa, a medtech startup, raised €1m in a Early-stage round from PranaVentures, Vento, and 40Jemz Ventures.

• Svolgo, a legaltech startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k in a Pre-seed round from Business Angels.

New funds💫

• Zest and Eureka! 🇮🇹announce Z_One, a new AI and urban tech fund.

M&A🥩

• BizAway acquires Uniglobe Alliance Travel to strengthen its position in the Netherlands.

Reading this week📚

• The Top 10 Data Center and AI Infrastructure Security Risks.

• IFF’s Irene Mingozzi on “Cosa Sposta”: 🇮🇹Does it make sense to INVEST in STARTUPS in ITALY?

• Key takeaways from President Xi's speech in his first ever appearance at the World AI Conference in Shanghai.

• SunCubes and Mirai Partner to Keep Uncrewed Maritime Systems Powered Longer and Protected from Drones

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:

• Full Stack Software Engineer (Java/Spring Boot & React) at WordLift

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:

• Planet Foundamentals | Soluzioni sistemiche per un mondo che cambia

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 💰

• Young Group, a crypto exchange, 🇮🇹raised €22.5m in a Growth round from Azimut.

• Klaro, a fintech startup, raised €3m in a Seed round from 360 Capital (360 Digitaly), CDP Venture Capital SGR.

• Nlcomp, a new materials startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.15m in a Seed round from Ocean, Samer & Co. Shipping, and CDP Venture Capital.

• ZeroCO2,a carbon credits startup, raised €1m in a Seed round from NTT Data Italia, and CDP Venture Capital.

The Money International 🌍💰

• Proxima Fusion, a nuclear fusion startup, raised $468m in a round from XTX Ventures, East X Ventures, RWE, Google, KfW Capital, SPRIND - Bundesagentur für Sprunginnovationen, and Burda Principal Investments.

• Handspring, a pediatric mental health startup, raised €19m in a Series B round from RPS Ventures, Angelini Ventures, Cobalt Ventures, NextView Ventures, Nvp Capital, Hyde Park Angels, and Cornucopian Capital.

New funds💫

• Primo Space 2 is launched for space technology and dual-use applications, with a target of €120 million | StartupBusiness.

M&A🥩

• Fincantieri acquired WSense.

Reading this week📚

• An 🇮🇹interview with Satispay’s Alberto Dalmasso | StartupItalia.

• Here is the hub for robotic additive manufacturing in design | StartupBusiness.

• Moats are dead, long live moats | Tommaso Moraca.

• An 🇮🇹interview with CrestOptics’ Renato Giacobbo Scavo | Agenzia Nova.

• Niulinx has setup a German subsidiary.

• The Venture Capitalist's World Model | Odin.

• AI’s Biggest Winners Have the Lowest Margins.

• Data Driven VC Landscape 2026

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week). 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 (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last 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 💰

• MDOTM Ltd., a fintech startup, raised $27m in a Growth round from Expedition Growth Capital.

• Health Triage, a deep-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3m in a Early-Stage round from Vertis Sgr (Vertis Venture 6 Digital Sud), and Health 1.

• Archimede, a satellite connectivity and IoT startup,🇮🇹raised €1.5m in a Seed round from Primo Capital, Cdp Venture Capital, Plug and Play, Elis, 40Jemz Ventures, and Irritec.

• Banyan Biotech, a biotech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a Seed round from Berrier Capital.

• Musthad, a circular economy startup, raised €1m in a Seed round from Alante Capital, Style IT, NextStep, and Ragnarson.

• Sencare, a health startup, raised €0.5m in a Seed round from Consis, Gama Partecipazioni, and Startup Bakery.

New funds💫

• Panakes Partners announced BII Catalyst Fund I for Italy, a biotech fund focused on Lazio-based biotech startups

IPO🪎

• Bending Spoons IPO prices above range at $18.4 billion valuation | Yahoo!Finance.

• Alia Mentis 🇮🇹went public on the Italian Stock Exchange.

M&A🥩

• Pirelli acquired a 24.99% in RideSense.

• iPratico 🇮🇹acquired Aivesp, a university spin-off from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna.

• P101 integrated Prana Ventures (and announced a new €100m seed fund).

Reading this week📚

• 16 new unicorns 🇮🇹minted in defence and spacetech in 2026 | Ilsole24ore.

• 🇮🇹Intacture, a 6 MW datacenter built inside a mine, 100mt underground.

• Hercle Secured MiCA and EMI Licenses, Bridging Regulated Cross-Border Payments and Stablecoin Settlement.

• The State of the AI Economy | Exponential View.

• The Venture Capitalist's World Model | Odin.

• The Palantirization of everything | A16z.

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week). 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 (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week).

Fundraising Tracker 📈

Q2 in Italian Startups

A quick recap of the first two quarters:

1. My final number for the first 6 months of 2026 is almost EUR 730m.

2. The top 5 rounds were raised by four well established companies, and only one “AI-native” startup:

   1. D-Orbit (founded 2011, latest round EUR110m)

   2. Satispay (2013, 60m)

   3. Weroad (2017, 49.7m)

   4. Smartness (2020, 47m)

   5. Lexroom (2023, 43m)

3. Q2 was the most performant since my time series started - but it was the weakest on many previous years. Q3 and Q4 will be tough to match.

   

   The monthly chart draws a better picture than the aggregate data tells: 2025 had a great Q4, with almost 800m in new rounds announced. We are still a long way to go for the 1.5b mark!

   

4. Seed and pre-seed rounds account for the majority of stages (unsurprising).

You can navigate these and more charts on my streamlit dashboard.

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 💰

• Compri, an AI for procurement startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.2m in a Early-stage round from Picus Capital, Shapers, Italian Founders Fund, and DFF Ventures.

• Kalipso, a regtech startup, raised €3.2m in a Early-stage round from Vento, Varsity, Lanai, Plug and Play, and Kima Ventures.

• Oversonic Robotics, a robotics startup, raised an undisclosed amount from STMicroelectronics, Fondazione ENEA Tech Biomedical, and SpotInvest.

The Money - International 🇮🇹🌍

• Seltz, an agentic web search startup, raised €12.5m in a Seed round from Speedinvest, B Capital, Italian Founders Fund, United Ventures, and Future Back Ventures.

IPO

• Bending Spoons S.p.A. announced launch of initial public offering; expected share price between $26 and $28 | BusinessWire.

M&A🥩

• Cato 🇮🇹acquired Avvista.

• Depth First Labs acquired Almanax.

Reading this week📚

• RarEarth, an rare earths recycling startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.5m grant from the European Innovation Council.

• The Italian Founders House

• The ‘tech cricca’ – will Italy’s new millionaires invest in start-ups? | StartupBusiness.

• Trenitalia 🇮🇹hacked, millions of customers' data breached: cell phones, emails, loyalty cards, and documents.

• Neva SGR exits from Phosphorus, a US startup.

• StartupItalia's 🇮🇹report on funds raised in H1 2026 by Italian startups: €643m. | StartupItalia.

• Claude Tag is a trojan horse:

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week). Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

• CEO & Co-Founder at Hemys

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week).

• AI Salon Torino

• Last chance to apply to the Lake Como Venture Lab program.

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.

And happy 300th issue to TWIS! 🎂

The Money 💰

• X-nano, a synthetic graphite startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.7m in a Seed round from Mito Tech Ventures, Pietro Fiorentini and other business angels.

• Soource, an AI procurement startup, raised €3m in a Seed round from Vertis, Tenity, 360 Capital, and Club degli Investitori.

• Bestie Bite, a social review startup, raised €1.5m in a Seed round from G&G (Grassi family holding company).

• Sirius Game, an edtech startup, raised €1.3m in a Seed round from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, Trentino Invest, Ultra VC, 28Digital, and Add Value.

• niino, a medical transportation startup, raised €1.26m in a Pre-seed round from 40Jemz Ventures, Michele Grazioli, Danila De Stefano, Massimiliano Squillace, Alessandro Braga, Francesco Zaccariello, and Fabrizio Perrone.

• Cloov, a circular economy startup, raised €1m in a Seed round from StyleIT, Maze Impact, and Gateway Ventures.

The Money - International 🇮🇹🌍

• Rainbow Crops, a Belgium-based agritech startup, raised €9.7m in a Seed round from LIFTT, AIF, PINC, VIB, Corteva, and Maia Ventures.

Reading this week📚

• The Founder's Playbook: Building an AI-Native Startup | Anthropic.

• The Window Has Closed | X

• We are entering the era of compound models | OpenRouter

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last week). 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 (note: fixed - it was offline for most of last 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 💰

• Satispay, a fintech unicorn, 🇮🇹raised €60m from existing investors Greyhound, Addition, Lightrock, and others, and plans to raise €60m more to support future M&A activity.

• Rosso, a health-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3m in a seed round from 360Cap, CDP Venture Capital, Angelini Investments, Business Angels.

• Ulisses, an IoT startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a seed round from Argo and Business Angels.

• Sintropy.ai, an energy efficiency startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a seed round from Maia Ventures and FPR.

• AIM Solutions, an hospitality-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €500k in a pre-seed round from Business Angels.

IPOs 🥂

• Bending Spoons filed for a U.S. IPO.

M&A 🥩

• UNGUESS acquired Testbirds.

• Facile.it 🇮🇹acquired Infodrive Service and Fideas.

Reading this week📚

• Statement on the US government directive to suspend access to Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

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 💰

• Vivilo, an event-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised 628k in a Seed round from Business Angels.

The Money International 💰

• 360Cap led a €15.5m round raised by Swiss startup GR3N

IPOs 🥂

• Alia Mentis 🇮🇹is planning an IPO on the Italian stock exchange

M&A 🥩

• CommerceClarity 🇮🇹acquired Katalogo.ai

• Angelini Venture’s first exit is worth $340m: Noctrix 🇮🇹was acquired by ResMed

• TrueLayer acquired In3.

Reading this week📚

• Chinese robotics company Ubtech 🇮🇹to choose Italy for its European HQ.

• A2A Life Ventures 🇮🇹announced Materia, a computer vision product to track waste.

• Learning produces an orthogonalized state machine in the hippocampus | Nature

• The pendulum - (I share the same feelings).

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 💰

• WeRoad, a travel-tech startup, raised €58m in a Series C round from Airbnb and H14.

• Deeptree, a fintech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a Seed round from CDP Venture Capital.

New Funds💫

• 🇮🇹Djungle Brigde: a new secondaries fund for Series A+ startups that did not manage to scale.

IPO 🥂

• Newcleo to go public in a SPAC deal, merging with NewHold Investment Corp III.

Reading this week📚

• An 🇮🇹interview with Gianluca Dettori (Primo Capital) about the impact of AI in the enterprise. | Innlifes.

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:

• Founding Tech lead at Nursy

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:

• Startup Africa Day 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 💰

• Lexroom, an AI-first legaltech startup, raised USD$50m in a Series B round from Left Lane Capital, Base10 Partners, Eurazeo, Acurio Ventures, Entourage, and View Different.

• Cosmico, an HR-tech startup, raised €12m in a Growth round from P101 SGR, and Prana Ventures.

• Quantum Bridge Technologies, a quantum security startup, raised €8m in a Series A round from Primo Capital SGR, Wayra (Telefónica), Cadenza VC, Club degli Investitori angels, HPE, and Bacchus Venture Capital.

• K-Sport, a sports-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount in a round from Rialto EuVECA (AVM SGR), venture capital, high-net-worth individuals, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Money, Italians in the world 💰

• Invertix, a Germany-based, AI-first, solar asset management startup, raised €1.7m in a Pre-seed round from Vireo Ventures, and Italian Founders Fund.

M&A 🥩

• CVC, GBL launch €10.7 billion bid for Italian drugmaker Recordati.

Reading this week📚

• Practices of European and American venture capitalists: homogeneity and heterogeneity at work | Small Business Economics.

• Enrico Poli (Zanichelli Ventures) 🇮🇹on their investment in Gyver | EconomyUp.

• FoolFarm 🇮🇹becomes an AI startup, abandoning its venture studio origins | StartupBusiness.

• 🇮🇹9 Italian business angels in Top 50 investors & lenders by Sifted | StartupBusiness.

• Anthropic to open Milan office, expanding push into Europe | Reuters.

• 🇮🇹Sifted 100: Southern Europe, strong presence of Italian Life Sciences startups. | Innlifes.

• AI Eats the World | Benedict Evans

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:

• Coding Agent Hackathon powered by Cursor - 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 💰

• 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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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.