TWIS #185
Contents.com, SQIM, Indigo.ai raised funding. Bending Spoons on an acquisition spree. Business angels in Italy. The EY VC Barometer 2024.
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
D-Orbit confirmed the closing of the €100m announced back in November 2023 (seed issue #177). Marubeni led, with Avantgarde, CDP VC, United Ventures, Primo Ventures, Neva SGR, Indaco Venture Partners, and Seraphim Space Investment Trust following.
Contents.com, an AI-based content generation platform, raised USD$18m in a Series B round led by Alkemia Capital and Thomson Reuters Venture.
SQIM, a biotech startup, raised €11m in a round led by CDP VC, with participation from ECBF VC, Kering Ventures, and Progress Tech Transfer.
Indigo.ai, an AI-first startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.5m from its controlling shareholder Vedrai.
Your Personal Trainer, a sports-tech startup, raised 723k from CDP VC and Lazio Innova.
IPO
Neosperience Health, controlled by Neosperience, raised 1m and plans to go public on the Nasdaq.
M&A
Bending Spoons acquired Meetup.
Bending Spoons also acquired Mosaic Apps (for allegedly more than $100m).🤯
L’Orto di Jack, a fresh groceries company, 🇮🇹acquired Ristoking (and is preparing to raise €10m).
LuisaViaRoma announced the acquisition of Holding It.
Almawave 🇮🇹acquired Mabrian Technologies.
Readings this week
Tatatu, a social network app listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, is about to 🇮🇹raise €175m from Bahrein’s Prince Al-Khalifa.
The European Commission and the European Investment Fund join forces to boost investment in defense innovation through the Defence Equity Facility, by creating a €175 million fund-of-funds targeting venture capital and private equity funds.
🇮🇹Business angels in Italy: the impact of angel investing. A report from the Italian Tech Alliance.
Newcleo 🇮🇹signed a research agreement with NextChem and Tecnimont.
🇮🇹EY VC Barometer 2024: a report on the Italian startup investment ecosystem in 2023. Sign up for the live-streaming presentation!
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Newly added events:
The EY VC Barometer 2024 - link to the streaming on 16/1/2024 from 5 pm.
Fundraising Tracker
Ending Notes
I’ll be part of the EY VC Barometer event, discussing the Italian VC ecosystem with Josip Kotlar and Eleonora Chioda. Sign up for the streaming using the link above to follow the talks!
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.
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