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Country Guide
Italy
Guest Editor
Roberto Magnifico
Partner - Board Member at LVenture Group
Roberto Magnifico is a venture capitalist and angel investor based in Rome. In 2013, Roberto became a partner and board member of LVenture Group, after more than twenty-five years of work experience in investment banking, having worked with companies such as Lehman Brothers, Barclays Capital and UBS. He approached the start-up environment back in 2008, and focuses mainly on SaaS (Software as a service) startups, with further interests for what concerns the Digital Strategy, Crowdsourcing, Mergers & Acquisitions and Business Development aspects of the industry.
Guest editors are local ecosystem leaders: successful founders, investors, or thought leaders. Have someone in mind? Nominate a country guest editor.
Disclaimer: all content within the Startup Ecosystem Summary and Editor’s Guide sections is written by and reflects the personal perspective of the guest editor. The guest editor is not responsible for content within the Country Snapshot and Community sections, as much of this content is compiled from external sources and does not necessarily reflect the guest editor’s view.
Startup ecosystem summary
Key Startup Cities
Milan, Rome, Turin
Connected Country Ecosystems
France, Spain, United Kingdom
Differentiators
- 151 newly-born Incubators and Accelerators
- 32 Technology Parks and 25 Empowerment Programs
- Young and innovative population
- Cross-industry focus
Challenges
- Need of greater foreign investment
- Relatively weak digital culture
- Need for greater appeal to foreign talent
- Lack of government incentives supporting innovation
Editor's Guide
Introduction
The Italian startup ecosystem is a relatively new but thriving and fast growing one. One of Italy’s main concerns has always been finding the best way to exploit and valorize the truly infinite amount of resources and talent that is available, and the opening to the startup environment seems to be the best solution to this. Encouraging signals have been sent, and new innovative realities make their way into the ecosystem every year, with numbers showing an exponential growth. Around 80% of Italian-based startups that receive funding spend most of the money in R&D, which testifies to the desire to innovate. The Italian startup ecosystem is surely still at an embryonic stage, but that can only be interpreted as a huge opportunity, especially if combined with the aforementioned resources and talent available. Therefore, the growth opportunities do not only regard startups that might enter the Italian market, but the ecosystem itself, making it attractive for corporates and various agents of the Venture Capital industry as well. In addition, there are amazing arbitrage opportunities for international VC investors.
Outlook
There is a huge growth opportunity for the Italian startup ecosystem, an opportunity which is driven by a number of factors. Mainly, these factors are: a) access to technology; b) access to talent; c) growing access to capital; d) low cost of production factors.
The main challenges that the Italian startup ecosystem faces are: a) the institution of a more favorable regulatory environment to stimulate the birth of start-ups; b) more favorable tax policies; c) greater involvement of the private sector, SMEs in particular; d) a stronger global outlook and appeal, e) a slimmer bureaucratic process which is currently amongst the heaviest burdens that start-ups have to face.
Last but not least, there are numerous opportunities that will be fostered in the current landscape: a) The National Innovation Fund planning to deploy considerable sums of capital into the Venture Capital industry; b) the possibility of leveraging key technological sectors of the manufacturing economy; c) making use of the strong R&D university centers; d) once again, access to the incredible talent pool available in our country.
Featured Tech Startups
Editor’s choice of the country’s top 10 emerging tech startups.
Startup Showcase
Editor’s pick of which ‘Featured Startup’ is especially worth following and why.
Insoore is a platform for insurance and fleet management companies to optimize the claims management process through video-photo inspections and damage estimations, by engaging a community of thousands of experts in real time, and on demand. Insoore’s technology automates and streamlines the legacy approach to insurance claims management and processes. This cuts timing to a fraction and closes many fraud-inducing loopholes. Artificial intelligence is also being employed to accelerate both data collection and process management.
We are enthusiastic about the team because they have always demonstrated an amazing capacity to adapt to market feedback and because of their ability to respond and develop solutions to emerging criticalities in the insurance sector. The solutions they have developed for the automotive sector will now also be replicated in other market segments such as property and infrastructure insurance. They have demonstrated incredible product-market-fit and go-to-market momentum. We are extremely confident in a successful outcome.
Focus Industries
Editor’s choice of the industries with the most potential for technology disruption and growth.
FoodtechFocus areas include sustainable farming methods, sustainable packaging, and food waste reduction.
HealthtechItaly has a long and established history in the pharma and life sciences sector and it continues to be a major driver of growth, innovation and value creation.
Transport & ManufacturingFocus areas include air freight and logistics, airlines, marine, road and rail, and transportation infrastructure.
Talent
Editor’s perspective of the maturity level of talent in the ecosystem.
- Technical Talent
- Marketing Talent
- Experienced Talent
- International Talent
Culture and History
Editor’s commentary on how the country’s culture and history have impacted the ecosystem.
Like most European cultures, Italy has been influenced by state intervention policies which may have hindered entrepreneurial risk-taking measures. This has changed over the past 5 years, as competitive pressures and productivity issues have stimulated policy changes in favor of VC and new entrepreneurial endeavors.
Interested in becoming more involved in this ecosystem and connecting with local ecosystem leaders? Let us know.
Community
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Active Investors
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Incubators & Accelerators
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Startups Raising Capital
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Startups Hiring
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Coworking Spaces/Hubs
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Events
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Government Programs
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Non-Government Organizations
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Universities
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Tech Publications
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Reports & Infographics
Active Investors
360 Capital (Milan)
Innogest Capital (Milan): Healthcare-focused investment firm.
Lumen Ventures (Rome)
PrimoMiglio (Milan, Rome)
TIM Ventures (Milan)
United Ventures (Milan)
incubators
Digital Magics (Milan)
Lazio Innova (Rome)
accelerators
G2 Startups (Milan)
LUISS EnLabs (Rome)
Startups Raising Capital
There’s more to be discovered! Help us showcase this startup community by adding information.
Startups Hiring
There’s more to be discovered! Help us showcase this startup community by adding information.
Coworking Spaces/Hubs
Impact Hub Italy (Country-wide): Locations in Bari, Florence, Milan, Reggio Emilia, Rome, Syracuse, Turin and Trento.
Office Jam (Rome)
OGR Torino (Turin)
Pick Center (Rome)
Talent Garden Italy (Country-wide)
conferences
Maker Faire Rome (Rome)
Rome Startup Week (Rome)
Startup Italia Open Summit (Milan)
meetups
Deep Learning Italia (Milan)
Milan Startup Founder 101 (Milan)
Rome Startup Founder 101 (Rome)
Government Programs
Smart & Start Italia: Smart & Start Italia is the incentive that supports the birth and growth of innovative startups. It finances projects ranging between € 100,000 and € 1.5 million. The application is presented only online on the Invitalia platform.
Universities
ESCP Business School Turin (Turin)
Università di Cassino (Cassino)
Università La Sapienza (Rome)
Università LUISS (Rome)
Università Roma Tre (Rome)
Reports & Infographics
Check out our Global Startup Ecosystem Database to discover top startups and ecosystem resources around the world!
Country Snapshot
Economy
(Global avg. 3.0%)
(Global avg. 2.3%)
Society
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