In 2018 Italian business angels invested a total amount of 46.5 million euros (+75% from 26.6 million yoy) (see here aĀ previous post byBeBeez). Angels invested 80% of this amount for acquiring shares and 20% for financing shareholders, saidĀ Survey Iban 2018, a report about informal venture capital thatĀ Vincenzo CapizziĀ fromĀ SDA BocconiĀ highlighted during the XX Convention ofĀ Iban (Italian Business Angels Network)Ā that MilanāsĀ PwCĀ hosted.
On 20 June, Italian stock market regulatorĀ ConsobĀ released a proposal for changing the Regulation on equity crowdfunding following some changes brought by the Italian budget law for 2019 (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Stakeholders are askedĀ Ā to give their feedback by next July 20th. The news is that the Law allows now equity crowdfunding platforms to host also campaigns for SMEs that aim to raise funds for debt instruments. Only professional investors can invest in such campaigns, but the Law says that Consob might add some other categories of investors. So the consultation with the market is about that issue.
Neva Finventures, the corporate venture capital ofĀ Intesa Sanpaolo, invested 4 million euros for acquiring a minority of Italian equity crowdfunding platformĀ BacktoWork24Ā through a capital increase (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Neva Finventures signed a call option for acquiring a majority of the asset.Ā Antonio Chiarello, the founder of equity crowdfunding platformĀ ClubDealOnline, recently joined Neva Finventures.
Lybra.Tech, a tech tourism startup, raisedĀ 500k euros through an investment roundĀ led byĀ LVenture GroupĀ and business angelsĀ Angel Partner Group, part ofĀ Italian Angels for Growth, andĀ Pi CampusĀ (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Lybra.Tech is a Rome-based SaaS platform that sells its services to hotels thatĀ Fulvio Gianetti (ceo), Lorenzo Magnarelli, Marco DāAmore, Riccardo Pirozzi, andĀ Stefano SciamannaĀ founded.
MySecretCase,Ā an online vendor of sex toys for women, raised a 1.5 million euros Series B financing round (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Strategic investors joined fundsĀ R301 CapitalĀ andĀ B HeroesĀ andĀ angel investors such asĀ Ferdinand Von Kalm, previously ceo ofRocket Internet.Ā CeoĀ Norma RossettiĀ foundedĀ MySecretCase in 2014.Ā The company will invest such proceeds in its organic development.
Andrea RotaĀ received the 2019 Business Angel Award fromĀ Club degli Investitori,Ā Kpmg, andĀ UnicreditĀ (See here aĀ previous post byBeBeez).Ā Fabio Cannavale, serial entrepreneur and investor, won the award for 2018 and chaired the jury for the 2019 edition.Ā Giancarlo RocchiettiĀ is the chairman of Club degli Investitori.Ā Rota is part ofĀ Italian Angels for Growth (IAG)Ā and ofĀ Swiss ICT Investors Club (SICTIC)and mainly invests in Italy. In five years Rota pured 0.45 million euros in 25 startups that generated a 2.5X portfolio performance.
Fintastico, the fintechĀ TripAdvisor, andĀ Italian Angels for Growth (IAG)Ā signed a strategic partnership for supporting Italian fintech firms (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Fintastico will screen fintech startups for IAG that will shortlist assets for the member of its network.Fabio BrambillaĀ (chairman ofĀ Assofintech; founder and ceo ofĀ ControlPartners),Ā Fabio Marras, andĀ Fabrizio VillaniĀ founded Fintastico in 2016.
The foodtech startupĀ EatsReadyĀ raisedĀ 650kĀ euros from B2B innovation platformĀ GellifyĀ and three other investors (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez).Ā Micaela Illy, Olivia Burgio, andĀ Luciano de FrancoĀ founded EatsReady.
Utego, the startup that aggregates all current accounts and cards of its users, raisedĀ 500k euros through an equity crowdfunding campaign onĀ 200CrowdĀ (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez). Utegoās pre-money valuation was in the region of 2 millions. The company is working on the creation of buying groups, ceoĀ Stefano MussoĀ said to BeBeez. Musso founded the company in 2018 together withĀ Paolo PatrunoĀ Emanuele Preve, part of the companyās advisory board, has a 44% stake in the business together with the ceo and the cofounder.Maurizio Pimpinella, the chairman of the Italian association of providers of payment services, is part of the companyās advisory board.
RockAgent,Ā an Italian proptech startup, raised 3 million euros (see here aĀ previous post byĀ BeBeez).Ā Israeliās acceleratorĀ Sarona Partners 365xĀ coordinated the investors.Ā Daniel DebashĀ founded RockAgent in 2018. Debash said that the company will invest such proceeds in its organic development.