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The week in Italian startups - Issue #89
The Money
InnovHeart, a Milan-based developer of novel Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement (TMVR) systems for the treatment of mitral valve disease, raised a $55m Series C round led by Grand Pharmaceutical Group Limited.
Apparound, a CPQ software company, raised $10m from Fondo Italiano d'Investimento.
HAL, a "zapier for the blockchain", raised a $3m seed round led by CoinFund, Eden Block, and Animoca Brands.
Roboze, an additive manufacturing startup specialized in "super materials", raised "several millions" 🤔 from a syndicate of investors.
Folks Finance, a capital markets protocol for borrowing and lending built on top of the Algorand blockchain, raised $3m in a seed round led by Borderless Capital.
CercaOfficine, a car servicing digital platform, raised €1m from CDP Venture Capital.
WordLift, an AI-powered SEO platform, raised €800k from Primo Ventures.
Blacksheep, a madtech fund launched last year, 🇮🇹announced its first two investments in ID Ward (🇬🇧) and Scibids (🇫🇷).
Creation Dose, a martech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from a syndicate of investors including CDP Venture Capital.
HBI, a startup developing circular economy solutions for the industrial sector, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount from Nova Capital.
M&A, IPOs, Liquidity events
D-Orbit, a space tech company, announced a combination with Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp., a SPAC with a $150m market cap. The deal will value D-Orbit $1.28b after the merger. The SPAC stock price is currently at $10.23, slightly above the $10 of the listing. Did we want an unicorn in 2022? Yes! Did we get one? Also, yes? ✌🏻🚀
ESL Gaming and FACEIT merged, after a Saudi-backed group acquired both for $1.5b. FACEIT was reportedly paid some $500m.
CDP Venture Capital grows its AUM
The Ministry for Economic Development 🇮🇹assigned €2.5b in additional capital to CDP VC, to invest in the Italian startup ecosystem.
Italian Founders Office hours
A group of Italian VCs from across Europe joined forces to open their calendars to Italian founders to provide some mentoring and support. A great way to get in touch with international VCs. Here the form to apply.
Reading and watching this week
An interesting article from the Founder Collective about startup exits.
Andrea Orlando from Startup Wise Guys published a new and revamped map of the Italian ecosystem.
AppQuality rebranded as unguess.io
Opyn and Credimi on parallel tracks
It seems that the two leading Italian fintech platforms for SME lending are sharing a similar path: Opyn 🇮🇹lent €391.5m, for €19m revenues, while Credimi 🇮🇹lent €434m, with €15m revenues.
EY Venture Capital barometer
EY is presenting on February the 8th their 2021 Venture Capital barometer. I'll be joining a panel to discuss exits in 2021. The live event will be streamed, you can register here.
Recent job positions from XJobs
Satispay is looking for a Junior Financial Accountant
Shopfully is looking for a Marketing Intelligence Analyst
Soplaya is looking for a Director of Operations
Thinkinside is looking for a Sales manager
Musixmatch is looking for a Senior Product Designer
About XJobs:
The XJobs platform is a free portal listing open job positions from the Italian startup ecosystem, managed by CDP Venture Capital. If you desire, you can apply for free and have your job positions posted on the platform by following this link.
Ending Notes
This is probably a good time to congratulate with the United Ventures team: last week was all theirs, as they are investors in D-Orbit, FACEIT, Brumbrum and Moneyfarm. Good job! 🚀✌🏻🍷
Join the conversation between Giacomo Mollo and myself commenting on the latest news, every Monday at 6:30 pm CET (follow us on twitter for a live reminder and the link: Nico / Jack). If you miss the live discussion, you can subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and other podcast platforms.
Have a great week,
N.