Corporate shareholders invest mainly in innovative companies operating in the “software and information technology” sectors, but not only. Investor shareholders belonging to industry, in fact, diversify their holdings more and invest 29.9% in startups and SMEs of the industry, 27.9% in “software” companies and over a fifth (21 .7%) in those of research and development: this particular trend underlines the ability of industry to develop around itself ecosystems of a diversified nature to respond to heterogeneous needs.
Nearly half (47.5%) of CVC members are concentrated in the Northwest Italy, while innovative startups and SMEs are located more widely. In fact, in addition to the North-West (where 35% of companies are accounted for), there is also a considerable presence in the South (25.1%), in the Center (21.1%) and in the North-East (18.8 %). Looking at the two distributions jointly, the report reveals a shortage of potential corporate investors in the South, against a high presence of innovative companies in the same geographical area.
The intersectoral dynamism is high, with the majority of CVC members investing in sectors other than their own (81.4%), while the interregional dynamism is more limited (only 29.6% of CVCs invest outside their own region). A good 81.4% of Corporate shareholders have invested in innovative companies operating in sectors other than their own, while only 29.6% of CVC shareholders have invested in innovative companies that have their registered office in another region. Corporate Venture Capital in Italy, therefore, presents itself as a phenomenon that relates to the territory from a perspective of proximity and at the same time aims to invest in different sectors in order to diversify its skills.
The Lombardy ecosystem
27.3% of all innovative Italian startups and SMEs reside in Lombardy, a percentage that rises to 36.5% in terms of shareholdings and 34.4% in terms of production value. The phenomenon is growing, especially in terms of revenues, which in 2021 recorded an annual increase of +19.8% (+4.8% growth in Italy). CVC is more widespread in the region and is growing faster than in Italy: of the 4.7 thousand innovative startups and SMEs in Lombardy, 38.8% are owned by CVC investors, a higher percentage than in Italy (31 ,2%).
In terms of revenues, CVC’s investee companies in Lombardy produced almost half (49.4%) of total revenues, compared to 45% in Italy. Furthermore, the revenues of CVC companies recorded an annual growth of +39.5%, higher than that of Italian CVC companies (+23%). In terms of economic performance, Lombardy stands out in particular for the percentage of CVC innovative companies with positive EBITDA, equal to 75%, 21 points more than the Italian percentage (54%).