Lift’s plans for startups
It has already raised 58 million euros and is expected to raise another 50 in the near future. This is Liftt’s project which does not want to be an investment fund but a discoverer of projects and technologies by investing in 100 innovative start-ups within 5 years.
“In Italy, those who create innovative technologies usually do not have the know-how to launch and manage a company – explains Giovanni Tesoriere CEO of Liftt – the idea that underlies the project, born from an idea of the president of the Cnr Francesco Profumo, is to facilitate the transfer to the market of the technology developed in Italian universities”. Initially started with the Compagnia Sanpaolo and the Polytechnic in an equal position in the Links Foundationthe institutions have gradually been diluted in Lifft with the subsequent capital increases, which have seen, over time, the entry of the Crt. Foundation he was born in Azimuth group, supported by some entrepreneurs and family offices. Now Lifft sees a widespread shareholding with 172 shareholders who participate in the project with different shares starting from 100 thousand euros.
“Most of our shareholders are entrepreneurs – continues Tesoriere – who therefore come from the economy real and they see in companies and technologies that we propose a secure future”. What differentiates the company from an investment fund, Liftt is a holding company, is the duration of the investments themselves.
What does it invest in?
“The investment funds – says Tesoriere – have 5-year objectives, while we remain in projects for 10 or even 15 years. The reason is that we invest in technologies very innovative ones such as Quantum Computing or photonics, which do not yet have a large market but which they will certainly have in the future”.
At the moment the company has already invested in 35 startups and there are 12 more in launch pad. Liftt’s strength is to be able to lend a concrete hand to development thanks to the approximately 20 project managers who work for the company.
“Our managers – continues the CEO – are able to follow the practical development of a business plan. It is a business model designed specifically for Italy where very often those with patents and technology have never been entrepreneurs”. Among the companies in which the company has already invested are, Aria Sensing (develops a radar capable of intercepting any human presence), Betaglue (anti-tumor therapies), Lipogems (technologies for processing adipose tissue), Rubber Conversion (rubber recycling). Then there is, in photonics, Sub Photon e CareGlance (real-time imaging devices for biomedical and industrial applications).
Liftt’s portfolio features a significant degree of sector diversification with plans to invest abroad soon. “The important thing is to choose well where to invest – concludes Tesoriere – we have many requests but we only invest in 0.8% of the projects presented to us”.