TWIS #277 - Welcome to 2026!

Lever Bio, Principled Intelligence, Pipein, Dresso raised funding. Ping Identity acquired Keyless.

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.

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The Money 💰

• Lever Bio, a cancer immunotherapy startup, extended its seed round to €9m, raising from Claris Ventures, Ora Global, Club degli Investitori, and Italian Angels for Growth.

• Principled Intelligence, an AI-alignment startup, raised €1.85m in a Pre-seed round from Polo Nazionale di Trasferimento Tecnologico per l'Intelligenza Artificiale e la Cybersecurity, BlackSheep, and Eden Ventures.

• Pipein, a robotic inspection company, 🇮🇹raised €1.1m in a Growth round from BlueRobots, Fondo PiemonteNext-Comparto Due, and RoboIT.

• Dresso, a fashion-tech startup, raised €1m in a Early-stage round from undisclosed investors.

The Money - Italians in the world 🌎

• Even Healthcare raised €20m in a Growth round from Lachy Groom, Alpha Wave, and Sharrp Ventures.

M&A🥩

• Ping Identity acquired Keyless.

Reading this week📚

• 🇮🇹Three Italian investors weigh in on the AI bubble | Startupitalia.

• 🇮🇹Pizzatech Podcast: storie di startup e tech founder italiani all’estero | A podcast about Italian founders building abroad, by Pizza Tech.

• Casavo is 🇮🇹raising €12m in a controversial round that is diluting to zero existing shareholders.

• Satispay 🇮🇹expanded its wealth management offering with three new funds.

• AMD x Generative Bionics: Gene.01 Unveiled at CES 2026 | Generative Bionics.

• Are “Consensus” Seed Rounds Better? | AngelList.

2025 at a glance

In a few weeks we will be flooded by detailed analyses about the last year in VC in Italy, but let me serve you an appetizer from my tracker:

1. 2025 was the second best year on (my) record in terms of capital raised by Italian startups - about €1.6Bn:

   

2. Q4 2025 was the best quarter on (my) record for capital raised:

   

3. In the list of the 10 biggest rounds raised in the year, Exein appeared twice (#3 and #5). Good performance from biotech (AAVantgarde Bio #2, NanoPhoria #4), and an unexpected but very welcome humanoid robotics player (Generative Bionics, #6). Bending Spoons was #1.

4. The most active investors in terms of mentions include (overwhelmingly and unsurprisingly) CDP Venture Capital, mentioned in more than 60 rounds; Vento (18) and Azimut (12) complete the podium. Primo Capital (10), Club Degli Investitori (9), Italian Founders Fund (9) follow.

5. Some statistics about the rounds in my tracker:

   1. # of rounds: 244

      1. About half labelled “pre-seed” or “seed” in the news articles.

   2. Median: €2.1m

   3. Average: €6.6m

Jobs in Italian Startups🌟

If you want to share or more job positions relevant to the Italian ecosystem, fill out this form. Looking for a new job? Check out this link!

Newest entries:

• Investment Associate at Primo Capital

• VC Ecosystem Analyst internship at Italian Tech Alliance

Startup Events in Italy🎪

Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.

Newest entries:

• INNOVATION MEETUP - Milano

Fundraising Tracker 📈

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Ending Notes📝

Don’t forget to check out the TWIS dashboard for the latest updates.

If you want to know more about sponsoring TWIS (and/or the podcast episodes), read some info here and send me a note!

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.

N.