TWIS #237
Akamas, Krill Design, AIKO and others raised funds. Another acquisition for EssilorLuxottica. Vitruvian-1, a new LLM in the Italian landscape.
Hello,
Welcome back to The Week in Italian Startups. This is Niccolò from Primo Capital: every week, I publish my curated list of the latest news from the Italian startup ecosystem.
The Money 💰
Akamas, a cloud optimization startup, raised $10m in a round led by United Ventures.
Krill design, a sustainable materials startup,🇮🇹raised €6m from Algebris Investments, Primo Capital, and Crédit Agricole Italia.
AIKO, an AI for space startup,🇮🇹raised €520k from Club degli Investitori.
Chapeau Media 🇮🇹raised €140k in a Seed round from Marcello Ascani.
Contents.com🇮🇹raised a round from Side Angels, for an undisclosed amount.
The Money - Italians abroad💰
Claro AI, an AI startup based in Berlin, raised €650k from Atlas SGR, Antler, Founders Factory, Fastweb, Plug & Play, and D11Z.
M&A🥩
EssilorLuxottica acquired the Canadian med-tech start-up Cellview | EssilorLuxottica.
LimoLane 🇮🇹acquired Asia Car Service.
Teamsystem 🇮🇹completed the acquisition of Muscope Cybersecurity announced back in Novembre 2024 (disclaimer: this was a portfolio company of Primo Digital).
Reading this week📚
An 🇮🇹interview with Tommaso Maschera | Startupitalia.
An interview with Marco Ramilli, Founder of IdentifAI | scaleupitaly.
The future of Europe is industrial | Unbeaten path.
Equity crowdfunding: Mamacrowd 🇮🇹raised €41m in 2024 | StartupItalia.
Vitruvian-1 - a new Italian “reasoning” LLM enters the arena | MilanoFinanza News. Here a brief technical report by its creators.
The founder’s playbook for scaling to $1 million ARR | Bessemer
🌟Jobs in Italian Startups🌟
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Startup Events in Italy🎪
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Fundraising Tracker 📈
Ending Notes📝
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Have a great week,
N.