Whereas funding for Italian startups has been rising, the nation nonetheless ranks eighth in Europe by VC funding, in keeping with Dealroom.
Newly created Italian Founders Fund (IFF) hopes to assist with the catching up, each in amount and in high quality. With €50 million to take a position into 25 corporations, it additionally positions itself as a sector agnostic, founder pleasant fund that understands the ache factors of entrepreneurs.
IFF’s portfolio already contains 4 corporations, with a fifth deal within the works. Two have been disclosed up to now: Earlier than buyer analysis platform Glaut in April, IFF led a 2023 spherical of funding into HR tech startup Jet HR.
“IFF is addressing the problem for early stage founders in Italy to discover a excessive conviction lead investor on the pre-seed and seed levels,” IFF founding accomplice Lorenzo Franzi (third from the proper within the image above) informed TechCrunch.
Some could disagree with the analysis; VC corporations that function in Italy already embrace CDP Enterprise Capital, Exor Ventures, LVenture Group, Milano Funding Companions, Pariter Companions, Primo Ventures, and United Ventures.
Franzi, nonetheless, thinks that this nonetheless leaves a spot for early stage capital. And both manner, IFF comes up as a brand new supply of capital for a market whose startups collectively obtain far much less funding than France’s, as an example, even supposing the 2 international locations have an analogous inhabitants measurement.
IFF can be a complement to accelerators comparable to H-FARM, and a step up from the angel investing that Franzi and different entrepreneurs turned backers had been partaking in.
A former CEO at laundry startup Laundrapp turned accomplice at International Founders Capital till late 2022, he mentioned that the “unstructured” strategy inherent to angel investing can result in a number of points comparable to restricted evaluation, complicated cap tables, and undersized funding rounds. IFF can deliver the construction of a fund to its funding course of, but in addition be hands-on after it invests.
As an illustration, IFF was in a position to assist portfolio corporations with key hires, business enlargement, and strategic partnerships, Franzi mentioned. Jet HR CEO Marco Ogliengo concurred, noting that IFF’s value-add comes from the truth that it’s “backed by mainly each profitable Italian founder.”
That could be hyperbole; however in keeping with Franzi, round 100 of IFF’s backers are certainly Italian entrepreneurs. He added that they arrive from a variety of generations and sectors, however with a shared purpose: to place Italy on the map of the perfect spots in Europe to open an organization.
That’s an bold purpose, particularly since a number of the ache factors are out of IFF’s remit: There’s not a lot a personal VC agency can do to counterbalance excessive taxes and paperwork. There have been newer public efforts to spice up the nation’s attractiveness and its tech sector; however not like CDP Capital, which is backed by state businesses, IFF is totally privately funded.
In absence of public funding or institutional LPs, IFF is free to take a position wherever it sees match. It’ll use this geographical flexibility to additionally again Italian founders working overseas, in addition to international startups serious about coming into the Italian market.
International connections go each methods, with IFF aiming to get international VC funds to co-invest in its portfolio, both initially or in follow-on rounds. It’ll additionally assist that a few of its LPs are GPs of international funds, and that it plans to again Italian founders with world ambitions.
International Italian startups embrace Bending Spoons, the proprietor of widespread apps and providers like Evernote and Meetup, which is valued at $2.55 billion. And with serial Italian entrepreneurs returning house to discovered their subsequent ventures, it appears becoming that they now have a founder-led fund to again them.
IFF might be managed by KOINOS Capital, a personal fairness fund that has been increasing into VC, and whose CEO, Marco Morgese, famous examples of founder-led funds in different markets, comparable to Founders Fund within the U.S. or extra not too long ago, Galion.exe in France.
Seeing IFF undertake this mannequin in Italy is another signal that the ecosystem is maturing. With regards to enterprise capital, numbers are enhancing, however there’s nonetheless extra to do. “In Italy, difficult the established order on processes, pace, and an entrepreneur-focused mindset is crucial,” Franzi mentioned.
