Innovup is at the same time the most recent association and with the oldest roots of the Italian startup ecosystem. It was born in September 2021. But it is the result of the synthesis of Italia Startup, the association of Italian startups born in 2012 after the launch of the Italian Startup Act, and Apsti, the association of Italian science and technology parks born in the middle of the years Ninety. It represents the Italian innovation chain with a network made up of over 400 realities. From companies in their first steps to more consolidated companies on the market.
It is chaired by Cristina Angelillo, appointed in 2021, while Stefano Solvano is the vice president of the association. Angelillo is a telecommunications engineer and entrepreneur of startups such as Marshmallow Games, an innovative company that creates educational apps for children. You will be a guest of the Italian Tech Week in the panel that will tell the evolution of the ecosystem of Italian startups from 2012 to today, from the year in which the then Minister of Economic Development, Corrado Passera, gave Italy the first law on startups innovative.
Much has changed since then. Italy today boasts about 14,000 startups. Ten years ago their number did not reach a hundred. But 14 thousand are those currently registered in the register of companies, where the permanence cannot last beyond 5 years. Of innovative companies, it is legitimate to think, there are many more. There are cases of international success, the first unicorns, companies with a valuation of more than one billion euros.
Above all, a market for venture capital investments has been created which has supported the birth and growth of innovative start-ups. The startup associations gave their support. Italia Startup was among the absolute protagonists of those early years. The transition to a more evolved phase of the market from innovation can only see it, in new guises and new forms, among the protagonists.