In the first 6 months of 2021, more than 600 million euros were invested in Italy in startups and innovative companies. To be exact 628 million. The sum was calculated by UpBase (the database of the Italian ecosystem of digital innovation powered by StartupItalia Alliance) and takes into account the rounds, crowdfunding and business angel investments disclosed to the media. This is a record figure if you think that in all of 2020 total investments in startups had not exceeded 700 million by much.
These numbers, the authors argue, give hope that the year 2021 can be closed with over 1 billion investments in startups even if the projection, in reality, is more optimistic and tells us that Italy could exceed one billion and 700 million. .
The 72 crowdfunding operations already concluded in the first 6 months of 2021 have cubed a total of 48 million euros, ten million more than in the first half of 2020 when 38 million were raised with crowdfunding. Also worth highlighting is the work of CDP Venture Capital which overall (since it was established in 2020) has supported over 680 startups with a total collection of 400 million euros. A series of good news for the entire Italian ecosystem of innovation and for the whole country which is accompanied by another positive signal: more and more often foreign funds decide to invest in startups made in Italy. In fact, there are already over 10 transactions exceeding 10 million euros.
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Major exits and operations: over 10 rounds exceeding 10 million
Among the most significant transactions in the first 6 months of 2021 there are the 100 million Everli that had Verlinvest as lead investor; the capital increase of Casavo which closed a 50 million round to which was added a credit line of 150 million euros from Goldman & Sachs; again the 32 million of Tannico approved for external growth, which saw the simultaneous signing of an agreement for the acquisition of a majority stake in one of the main French wine e-commerce operators: Ventealaproprieté. Then the 30 million of DoveVivo through StarTIP Srl subsidiary of Tamburi SpA; the 10 million Green Bone in which Innogest, 3B Future Health Fund, (formerly Helsinn Investment Fund), Meta Venture, CDP Venture Capital Sgr, Italian Angels for Growth participated; the 34 million of Cortilia with a round led by Red Circle Investments, the 40 million of Scalapay led by Fasanara Capital; and a few days ago also the 65 million euro round of BrumBrum. All rounds from January to June 2021 In the first half of 2021 there were over 80 investment transactions.
Covid-19 hasn’t stopped startups
“The report confirms that the sector has not stopped, not even during the pandemic, supported by the usually rarer contribution of foreign investors, private ones thanks to the relative tax relief promoted by the MISE, and also due to the commitment of CDP Venture Capital – explains Filippo Satolli, CEO of StartupItalia and head of Alliance -. Clear evidence that finally also in Italy the interest, also economic, in the startups has increased. And now that we are putting behind us a complex year in which the sector has been able to collect all the smallest signals and transform them, the challenge is to increase awareness and maturity. An element of great attraction can be made in Italy, involved in an overwhelming digital transformation process, and considered increasingly strategic by companies and investors. There is still a long way to go and the ecosystem of Italian innovation is investing and working to bridge the gap that still opposes new companies in the South to those in the Center-North in our country. The goal is to reach a single speed and give all new companies the same growth opportunities ».
