The week in Italian startups - Issue #91
The Money
Planet Farms, a vertical farming startup, 🇮🇹 raised €30m from Red Circle, Nuova Energia Holding, and several private investors.
1000farmacie, an e-pharmacy marketplace, raised USD$15m in a round led by P101 and HBM Healthcare Investments.
GenomeUp, a startup developing AI-powered genetic diseases analysis tools, raised $1.2m in a round led by Lumen Ventures, with a|impact, Finalca, GCM Group, Padda Health participating.
Serenis, a mental wellness startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.1m from a syndicate of investors (including Exor Seeds).
BonusX, a startup making it easier to access public funding, 🇮🇹raised €1m from Banco BPM, Invitalia, and Moffulabs in a mix of debt and equity.
Punchlab, a combat sports fitness startup, 🇮🇹raised €840k in a round participated by Primo Ventures, Sport Horizon Holding, LVenture Group, and ALIcrowd.
Zwap, a business networking app, 🇮🇹raised €200k from a syndicate of business angels.
Specto Photonics, a medical diagnostics startup, 🇮🇹raised €750k from Progress Tech Transfer Fund and LIFTT.
Quomi, a ready-to-cook meal kit delivery startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from CDP Venture Capital.
Europe prepares the big guns
The EU Council approved the plan to create a $10Bn megafund (to be called "ETCI", European Tech Champions Initiative), to support the creation of 10 to 20 late-stage VC funds.
Venice on blockchain
Elviria, a Swiss fintech platform, announced it will raise $14.5m through a UK-registered SPV, to purchase the Island of Tessera, a tiny island (8000 sqm) in front of Venice. The Island had been put on sale in an auction on a couple of occasions, the latest with a reserve price of €2.2m, in 2020, but no acquirer showed up.
Now, investors in the project proposed by Elviria will have the opportunity to purchase tokens on their blockchain of choice, instead of traditional and boring shares of the SPV.
Blockchain is coming to an island next to you.
EY Venture Capital Barometer
It's again that time of the year, and once again EY 🇮🇹released its Venture Capital barometer for 2021. The report is brief and packed with information regarding 2021 in Italian startups (including a contribution of your truly about startup exits during the year). Follow the link above to request your copy 😉
Fundraising tracker
As a new experiment, I'm adding a little tracker of the deals announced in the Italian ecosystem, comparing the cumulated data with previous years (thanks to Alessio Beverina for the tip).
Numbers are rough (there's a delay, sometimes huge, between when the actual deal happens and when it makes it into this newsletter), and January may be particularly off (e.g. D-Orbit's 100m convertible was announced in late 2021), but I'm confident it should be eventually consistent.
Numbers from 2020 and 2021 are taken from a more professional source (the EY VC Barometer). 😉
A podcast about the Swiss startup ecosystem
My good friend and podcast partner-in-crime Giacomo Mollo had a great conversation with Umberto Milano and Gianmaria Sbetta about the Swiss startup ecosystem in 2022. Listen to the special issue of the podcast on Spotify or watch the video on youtube.
Recent job positions from XJobs
Moneyfarm is looking for a Junior Investment Consultant
Satispay is looking for a Financial Accounting Specialist
Switcho is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer
Insoore is looking for an Analista Funzionale
Credimi is looking for a Finance Intern
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
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.