“I have a dream: to democratize artificial intelligence and bring it to small and medium-sized enterprises. Because it is the corporate fabric in which I was born, raised and where I would like to live”. In full pandemic Michele Grazioli launched Vedrai, a startup that, thanks to artificial intelligence, helps SMEs in their decision-making processes. Today he announces that he has acquired 60% of Indigo.ai, a company that designs and manufactures virtual assistants, born on the benches of the Politecnico di Milano from the idea of five young people. All of which remain in the share capital. Objective: to create an Italian and European hub for artificial intelligence. “We chose to do it together, because in our sector ‘small is not beautiful'”.
The numbers of the operation were not disclosed. “There are confidentiality clauses that we must respect, but I can tell you that this is a significant operation for the Italian context – comments Grazioli -. There is no winner, we have all won. We will use their technology to make people talk ‘our virtual agents, they will have a broad-shouldered partner to keep growing. ” You will see will aim to acquire 100% of Indigo.ai. The 60% was achieved in part by subscribing to a capital increase and in part by buying shares from non-founding members who had entered as lenders at the beginning.
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Grazioli, information technology to help his father, a building contractor
Grazioli comes from the province of Cremona. 27 years old, mathematician, he has a passion for numbers and has always dreamed of becoming an entrepreneur. He developed his first algorithm at 13. He wanted to help his father, a building contractor whom he saw in trouble. For him he studied a software capable of reading and processing the data of a construction site.
Grazioli is considered an artificial intelligence expert. “Defining it is not easy, but it has two characteristics: it learns independently how to solve a problem and it learns better and better”.
What it does you will see
You will see it analyzes the data present in the information systems of companies and correlates them with hundreds of thousands of external variables (from raw material prices to stock market indices), to understand the cause-effect relationships they generate and what impact they have on the company. “I’m there are two factors that affect businesses. The processes, of which even the smallest company is aware, and the decisions. A set of bad decisions is what makes a business go wrong. Through machine learning, we calculate the business impact of every decision before it is made. Thanks to this acquisition, our solutions will be even easier to use. Indeed, the Indigo.ai platform allows even those without technical skills to develop chatbots and conversational interfaces. Purpose: to increase sales “.
The acquisition is part of a rapid growth process for the Vedrai group. EBITDA of 2021 exceeded i 2.2 million euros. Its 80 employees will grow to 100 with today’s acquisition. Average age under 30. This year it carried out two capital increases for 45 million euros. In its first round it won 32 investors (including Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Bocelli, Piero Angela, the founder of the Calzedonia Group Sandro Veronesi). The second capital increase was led by Azimut. “What counts is having sound principles, being good people and having a goal with an impact: we want to do something for the Italian economic and social fabric”.
“The secret of success? Doing the things you like”
If you ask him what the secret of his success is, he replies: “Success isn’t about acquisitions or closing rounds of funding. It’s doing the things you enjoy. It’s going to bed all night and looking forward to waking up. morning. My secret? To do. I kept away from the world of startups where there is so much talk. And from those who complain. There is a Chinese philosopher who taught me a phrase that has always helped me: “When it gets dark, you have two options. One, complain. Two, light a candle. This has always helped us. We are in a market where it is very dark but we can light a candle and help SMEs… “.
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Explaining AI to companies far from innovative processes is not easy. “To do this – I always say – you have to speak in dialect. Which means not being seen as extremely competent, not speaking in a technical way, being down to earth. To create empathy we always say that doing AI is a bit like learning to do pasta alla carbonara “.
Meanwhile, Grazioli has begun its expansion abroad, starting from Spain. He arrived on TikTok to push the new generations to know the potential of artificial intelligence. And it has three objectives in the drawer: “Going to the stock market, hiring more and more young people and not being a burden for the growth of the company. This is why I imagined that I was already 58 and retired on May 15, 2025”.
For himself he dreams of a future in which he will deal with ethical issues dedicated to artificial intelligence. “With the pride of having believed, one day, that traveling with the right company would be extraordinary …”.