Stefano Bargagni, an IT and digital pioneer in Italy who founded in 1994 the first Italian e-commerce platform Chl (listed at the Italian Stock Exchange since 2000), raised 2.5 million euros in 8 months in two tranches reaching the number of about 60 private investors and is launching now in the business its last start up companies in Silicon Valley, California, MF-Milano FinanzaĀ wrote last Saturday September 20.
The start up, namedĀ Cynny spa, developed an app allowing users to archive and share their data (every kind of file, from videos to pdfs) without storage limits, in cloud, in a secure mode and at a very low cost. MoreoverĀ Ā users remain in full control of their data (files remain in theirs property, easily make the content private, remove from facebook),
The app was launched last August in the US targeting young people from 16 to 30 years old. The app is now only available in English language and is downloadable fromĀ Apple Store and Google Play. The app is entirely based on Cinny’s proprietary technology Ā (download hereĀ Ā the investors’ presentation),
Barbagni, who now controls a 56% stake in the company, started the Cynny project in 2005 with seed capital with capital from his own and his family and friends.
Cynny developed its own hardware and the technology is based on the smallest server ever built, the CYOne, based on ARM CPUs that combines great computing performances, low running costs and very high energy efficiencies. The hardware was developed together with Taiwan-basedĀ Ambedded Technology, a company founded byĀ Aaron Joue, where Cynny has a 2% stake while Ambedded Technology has a 1% stake in Cynny’s capital. The sale of hardware is going to be a new line of business for Cynny even if it should remain secondary to the app business, In the last few weeksĀ Ā Ambedded Technology delivered its first 15 sample servers CY7 to Japanese SCSK Corporation, an IT giant with 2.7 billion dollars of revenues in 2013 and 24 datacenter.
Cynny also controls with a 99% stake Cinny Inc,Ā a US-based company which is in charge of the commercial and marketing process and is managed with the support of Renato Iwersen, a long-time friend to Bargagni, who has been head of strategic partnerships in US mobile app developer Tango until few weeks ago. Tango gained a new round of financing of 280 million dollars last March of which 215 millions have been invested by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. Iweres personally was involved in the deal.
Another key parnter for Cynny is Ā ChiristianĀ VarvaraĀ with its Rumenia-basedĀ Cynny Social Cloud, where Cinny has a 90% stake and which is in charge of the app development.
Among other shareholders in Cynny, there are some well-known names in the IT and internet sector such as Anna Siccardi, founder of the crowdfunding site retedeldono.it and principal shareholders of classifieds site Ā bakeca.it;Ā Simone Pratesi, cfo of Italian listed company B&C Speakers; Andrea Manganelli, ceo of Toscana Finanza; andĀ Franco Margani, former chairman of Firenze Tecnologia and founder of Logitron, a company focused on industrial automation who Margani sold to US Gilbarco back in 1999.
As for Ā future financial deveopment of the company, Bargagni said: Ā “In this sector all travels quite fast. We have not decided our next steps”. However he made it understand that it is quite reasonable to imagine that Cynny will look again to a financing round in the next future and that venture capitalist or the Stock Exchange might be an option in a one-year time.
