TWIS #305
Circular Materials, Oris, TalentWare raised funding. A new fund by 360CP. H1 2026 in Italian startups from VeM and Growth Capital / ITA.
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.
[Sponsored] Venture Academy by Italian Tech Alliance 7th Edition – Applications Now Open! 🚀
Italian Tech Alliance has launched the seventh edition of the Venture Academy, kicking off on September 23rd, 2026. Running until December 16th, the program features 12 online sessions held every Wednesday (12:00–14:00 CET), alongside 4 special in-person lessons in Milan (Opening), Turin (#3), Rome (#10), and Milan (Closing & Diploma Ceremony 🎓).
Applications are open until September 18th (EOD) via the registration form on this page🔗, where you can also download the full program and check out the faculty.
The Opening Lesson, “The Venture Capital Fundamentals”, will be held live at the Italian Tech Alliance office in Milan (Corso Magenta 59, MI) on the 23 September, and is free to attend for non-enrolled participants as well, subject to seat availability.
The Money 💰
Circular Materials, a clean-tech startup, raised €11.8m in a Growth round from CDP Venture Capital, European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, EIT RawMaterials, 360 Capital, Corbites, and Lumar S.r.l.
Oris, a space-tech startup,🇮🇹 raised €5m in a Pre-seed round from Earlybird, Pitchdrive, Galaxia, Vento, and Fondo Piemonte Next.
Talentware, an hr-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.3m in a Seed round from CDP Venture Capital SGR, 360 Capital, 035 Investimenti, New Gate, and several Business Angels.
New funds💫
360CP announced LV 360 2, a 15m fund dedicated to deep tech startups in Lombardy.
M&A🥩
Circeus (formerly ShopCircle) acquired Dondy. (disclaimer: Primo Capital is a shareholder in Circeus).
Contents 🇮🇹acquired Baliou.
Reading this week📚
H1 2026 is behind us and it is time to run the numbers: we have 2 different reports this week: 🇮🇹VeM’s, reporting a headline number of €679m raised by Italian startups in 117 rounds, vs Growth Capital’s €813m raised in 145 rounds. As always, accounting strategies differ among each methodology.
This is going to be controversial:
Mark Pols@m3polsThe inverse correlation here between the ease of firing someone and the # of unicorns per capita is striking. h/t @yoramdw
2:59 AM · Jul 24, 2026 · 208 Views2 Reposts · 1 LikeLake Como Venture Lab 🇮🇹selected CleanOS, Fraido, Prometheus Plasma.
Make good introductions, build strong alliances, win. | Reid Hoffman.
Capital Allocation Is Dead.
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!
Startup Events in Italy🎪
Keep an eye on the upcoming events in the Italian ecosystem. Feel free to add an event through this form.
New this week:
Fundraising Tracker 📈
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.
