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The week in Italian startups - Issue #2
The Money
No relevant investments announced this week, but the Italian Venture Capital Association 🇮🇹 published its 2019 VC report with record-high investments (Eur 650Million in 236 investment rounds). Still far from our European peers, but still better than nothing 🤷🏻. It's unlikely that 2020 will be a record-breaking year again, though.
The Innovators
Isinnova, a R&D studio, 🇬🇧hacked a Decathlon scuba-diving mask to convert it into an oxygen mask for people hospitalized due to COVID-19.
The Italian Space Agency 🇮🇹 put 2.5M euros on the table for health and edutech startups, focusing in particolar on issues related to COVID-19.
Speaking of COVID-19, this is an interesting spreadsheet about the impact of the epidemic on European tech.
One of the most important startup competitions in Italy, Premio Marzotto, opened its call for ideas.🇮🇹A total of Eur 5 Millions are on the table for winning participants.
Satispay, an Italian money transfer / payments startup, 🇮🇹 has announced to have reached 1M users and 100K retailers.
From the web
This week has seen plenty of advice for entrepreneurs about how to face the difficult times ahead. Here a collection of the most interesting ones:
Techstars/Foundry AMA - Actionable advice from experienced CEOs during a downturn/crisi (youtube video).
From A16Z, a reading list for leaders in uncertain times.
From Steve Blank, action today for CFOs.
A reaserch from the Kauffman Fellows about how much harder it is to raise capital during a downturn.
End notes
The Italian innovation ecosystem is working hard to create effective responses agains the effects of the coronavirus desease. It is warming to see how everybody is working together against a common enemy - and it's amazing how things are moving fast.
Let's help them by staying at home and remember to wash your hands!
N.