Hello,
Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Ventures: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.
The Money
Ermes Cyber Security, a browser security startup, raised €3m in a Series A round led by Sinergia Venture Fund.
Finapp, a deep-tech startup, received a €3m grant from EIC, the European Innovation Council. Only another Italian project was selected (here’s the list).
Muscope, a cybersecurity startup, raised €800k from Primo Ventures and Klecha & Co.
Elephants, a Swiss/Italian luxury watches tokenization startup, 🇮🇹raised CHF 500k.
IH1, an investment holding, 🇮🇹invested €100k each in Deeva and Pelo Matto, and €1m in Mamazen, a startup studio.
M&A
Compass, a consumer credit company, 🇮🇹acquired Swiss-based BNPL startup HeidiPay for an undisclosed amount.
IPO & public markets
IMD, a medtech company, 🇮🇹plans to go public to the Euronext Growth Milan.
New funds
Canova SGR was recently founded and is 🇮🇹getting ready to launch Nova I, its first VC fund.
Azimut announced a pan-European VC strategy, 🇮🇹announcing two new funds.
Reading this week
Stanford University published a study analyzing the compliance of foundation AI models with the Draft EU AI Act.
ENEL, Planven, and Nozomi Networks launched the "Cyber Harbour", a laboratory to promote innovation, share best practices, and raise awareness around the importance of cybersecurity.
Mistral.ai strategic memo.
Fundraising Tracker
Ending Notes
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.
Have a great week,
N.