Doing startups in Italy is no longer ‘cool’. And it’s better this way. The latest report from Mind the Bridge – one of the most authoritative compass that photographs the state of health of Italian technology companies – records a clear change of pace in the weight and role of these companies. The era of marketing is over, the era of results has begun. Less storytelling, today numbers and growth count. And the Tech Scaleup Italy report is full of numbers.
It will be presented at the Italian Tech Week in Turin on 27 September by the president of Mind the Bridge, Alberto Onetti. But La Stampa can anticipate some data to support the report’s thesis. Which focuses on the weight of scaleups, startups with a few years behind them and which have found the path to growth and profits. In Italy in 2022 there were 557. Companies that employ 22,000 people and capable of generating 4.4 billion in turnover. A number that is not huge in relation to the Italian GDP. A 0.2% which might seem small compared to the industrial policy strategies of a country like Italy.
Startups and scaleups are growing. But it is a ‘non-linear’ growth
But Mind the Bridge – which created the report with Tim Enterprise – highlights three elements that should lead every government to consider the role of this sector of the economy as strategic. The first is that these innovative companies grow in a ‘non-linear’ way, i.e. by an average of 50% year on year, despite pandemic and macroeconomic uncertainties.
Towards ITW23 Sold out for Italian Tech Week, but there is still room for Dalla and Albertino by Bruno Ruffilli 25 September 2023
The second is that their number has doubled in the last two years, increasing the number of employees by 20%. Finally, scaleups are the most mature phase of a growing world, also made up of smaller startups, which overall employs around 30 thousand people. Not to mention the role they are taking on for the companies that turn to them to innovate. A meeting between traditional economy and innovation economy that has just begun to take hold in Italy.
Tip of an emerging iceberg. But cutting funding to CDP risks shutting down the engine
Scaleups are therefore the most visible part of a largely submerged world. The tip of an iceberg that is gaining step by step has partially emerged. It grows thanks to movements beneath the surface. And turning off the engine that allows these companies to grow is a risk. The report highlights the role played by Cdp Venture Capital, the startup investment fund of the subsidiary of the Ministry of Economy, which is fundamental in providing liquidity to the innovation market. It is no coincidence that 2022 ended with a record amount of investments in startups that broke the 2 billion ceiling. Highest figure ever. The large European countries remain ahead and run. Italy has recently started running and to catch up by running a little more. Cdp, for Mind the Bridge, gave a fundamental push.
Towards ITW23 Sold out for Italian Tech Week, but there is still room for Dalla and Albertino by Bruno Ruffilli 25 September 2023
But this push risks being scaled down if the government actually revokes the 300 million earmarked for CDP Vc to allocate it to the Made in Italy fund. Industry operators protest: “It’s not a good sign. We hope it is not the result of a broader belief on the part of the government that it no longer sees startups as engines of growth”, comments Francesco Cerruti, general director of the Italian Tech Alliance, the Italian venture capital association, to La Stampa. “In Italy there are 17 thousand startups. They represent the strongest segment of GDP growth in all Western economies. This is why it is essential to replenish the funds intended for Cdp Vc”, comments Giorgio Ciron, director of Innovup, the startup association. He will now speak to the executive, which in these days will also have to decide on the appointments at the top of Cdp Venture capital.