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While funding for Italian startup has been turn , the land still ranks eighth in Europe by VC investing , according toDealroom .
Newly createdItalian Founders Fund(IFF ) hopes to help with the catching up , both in amount and in quality . With € 50 million to invest into 25 companies , it also put itself as a sector agnostic , beginner favorable fund that understands the pain points of entrepreneur .
IFF ’s portfolio already includes four company , with a 5th flock in the works . Two have been disclosed so far : Beforecustomer research program Glautin April , IFF led a 2023 circle of funding intoHR technical school inauguration Jet HR .
“ IFF is addressing the challenge for early - stage founders in Italy to find a gamy conviction lead investor at the pre - seeded player and seeded player stage , ” IFF founding collaborator Lorenzo Franzi ( third from the right in the picture above ) enjoin TechCrunch .
Some may discord with the diagnosis ; VC firms that operate in Italy already includeCDP Venture Capital , Exor Ventures , LVenture Group , Milano Investment Partners , Pariter Partners , Primo VenturesandUnited Ventures .
Franzi , however , thinks that this still lead a gap for other - stage majuscule . And either mode , IFF hail up as a new source of capital for a grocery whose startups together with have far less funding than France ’s , for representative , despite the fact that the two land have a similar population size .
IFF is also a complement to accelerator such asH - FARM , and a whole tone up from the angel investing that Franzi and other entrepreneurs - turned - backers had been engaging in .
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A former CEO atlaundry startup Laundrappturned partner atGlobal Founders Capitaluntil previous 2022 , he said the “ amorphous ” coming inherent to angel investing can chair to several issue such as circumscribed analysis , complex cap tables and undersize funding rounds . IFF can impart the structure of a investment company to its investment outgrowth , but also be hands - on after it invests .
For instance , IFF was able to help portfolio company with key hires , commercial elaboration and strategic partnerships , Franzi said . Jet HR CEO Marco Ogliengo concurred , take note that IFF ’s value - add comes from the fact that it is “ backed by essentially every successful Italian founder . ”
That may be exaggeration ; but according to Franzi , around 100 of IFF ’s backers are indeed Italian entrepreneur . He add that they make out from a wide range of generation and sectors , but with a deal end : to put Italy on the single-valued function of the good spots in Europe to open a company .
That ’s an ambitious end , especially since some of the pain points are out of IFF ’s remit : There ’s not much a private VC firm can do to counterbalancehigh revenue enhancement and paperwork . There have been more late public efforts to boost the country ’s attractiveness and its technical school sector ; but unlike CDP Capital , which isbacked by res publica agencies , IFF is whole in private funded .
In absence of public support or institutional L-P , IFF is barren to vest wherever it sees set . It will habituate this geographic flexibility to also back Italian founder operating afield , as well as alien startups interested in enter the Italian market .
alien connector go both ways , with IFF shoot for to get extraneous VC funds to co - invest in its portfolio , either initially or in follow - on round . It will also help that some of its LP are GPs of foreign funds , and that it plan to back Italian beginner with world ambitions .
Global Italian startups includeBending Spoons , the owner of popular apps and services like Evernote and Meetup , which isvalued at $ 2.55 billion . And with successive Italian entrepreneursreturning hometo find their next ventures , it seems meet that they now have a founder - moderate store to back them .
IFF will be managed byKOINOS Capital , a private fairness fund that has been expanding into VC , and whose chief executive officer , Marco Morgese , note examples of founder - led funds in other market , such asFounders Fundin the U.S. or more late , Galion.exein France .
ensure IFF adopt this modelling in Italy is one more sign that the ecosystem is maturing . When it comes to venture capital letter , number are improve , but there ’s still more to do . “ In Italy , challenging the status quo on cognitive process , velocity and an enterpriser - focussed mind-set is indispensable , ” Franzi say .
