Four years after the start of operations, Neva Sgr, the company of venture capital of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, given the excellent result of the first fund, relaunches and doubles. On the one hand, the SGR, led by Mario Costantini and chaired by Luca Remmert, has announced the chiusura of the period of portfolio composition of fund investments Neva First one year in advance and with the first distribution of capital to subscribers, thanks to the valorization of the exit from Cyberint's capital after its recent acquisition by the global cybersecurity operator Check Point. On the other hand, Neva has doubled its objectives with the official launch of two new funds: Neva II and Neva II Italia, dedicated to investments in companies that are committed to providing business solutions to global problems. These will have a final investment capacity of 500 million euros, double the 250 million of the Neva First funds.
The announcement, together with the results of the 4 years of activity, were presented today at the Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin (OGR) in front of a large audience of venture capitalists, corporations, institutional investors, experts, entrepreneurs and startuppers from all over Italy and many other countries, led by the United States.
The opening speakers included the president of Intesa Sanpaolo, Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, and the chief sustainability officer of Intesa Sanpaolo and president of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Paola Angeletti, which highlighted the important role of Neva Sgr in the sustainability strategies of the Intesa Sanpaolo Group.
With 3 funds, Neva has invested 4 million in over 170 companies in 40 years
Started in 2020, despite the difficulties caused by the pandemic in the first two years, Neva SGR has achieved the set objectives ahead of schedule, coming to invest with the its first three funds, Neva First for global investments, Neva First Italy dedicated to national realities and Bottom Six for the development of Italian innovative ecosystems, approximately 170 million euros in over 40 companies highly innovative and growing.
Neva First: 50 million capital gain, with a 1,3x on invested capital
For Neva First in particular, Mario Costantini, CEO and General Manager of Neva, spoke about a surplus value of 50 million euros in value updated to June 30, with a 1,3x on invested capital: “an excellent number considering that many companies have entered the portfolio in the last year-year and a half, many of which operate in innovative areas where the value grows in subsequent rounds”.
The CEO explained that the wallet it can be divided into three areas: “first of all there are top ten contributors, with a potential return of between 3 and 8 times, and for which approximately 10 million euros have been invested in each. Then come the good contributor, with a return between 2 and 3 times, which are 15 companies on which just under 70 million have been allocated. Finally, there are the minor contributor, that is, 13 companies in which less than 30 million euros have been invested, with a potential return of 0,3 times to 1 times”.
These three groups also have three different strategies: "on top contributors time is not important, but value is important, they can be worth over 500 million each at the exit and therefore we must support them to reach the final result; on good contributors the goal is to mix value and time, while on minor contributors the goal is to clean the desk: they are companies that are perhaps excellent but where our share is small, or they are companies that are unable to reach the plan and our strategy is to make them buy in the fastest time possible, distracting our team's attention as little as possible".
In any case, "the wallet of the first fund was quality and resilient, we have gone through, starting in the summer of 2020, the perfect storm" the president pointed out Luke Remmert and in these years we have grown a lot, with a network of relationships that we have managed to create and with the improvement of the team: today we have people in New York and in Silicon Valley”.
Neva II aims to raise 400 million, Neva II Italia 100 million
Given the results achieved, Neva SGR has raised the bar with new objectives both for the companies to focus on and for investors. Neva II aim at one final collection of approximately 400 million of euros, to be invested in the best highly innovative emerging companies worldwide, while Neva II Italy plans to collect 100 million of euros to be reserved for Italian realities.
Both funds have a mandate to focus their attention on four main pillars, investing in companies that operate in sectors of priority importance for the future of the planet: life sciences, energy transition, digital transformation, aerospace and next-generation manufacturing. “This is a truly important challenge, because we are reaching significant dimensions and raising the bar in an incredible way,” explained Remmert, “and we want to “contribute to the creation and development of innovative companies in key sectors of the economy and society,” he added. But President Remmert also directly addresses investors: “Our mission obviously aims to return investors their shares with a nice multiplier – and so when we make an exit like with Cyberint we are really proud.
Intesa Sanpaolo doubles its presence with 200 million
Intesa SanPaolo will invest 200 million euros on 500 million euros: also in this case a doubling compared to the 100 million invested in the first fund. This fact is important not only for the money itself, but it is a sign of trust that such an important group gives for its venture capital fund. Neva is also supported by the progressive extension of the network of international relations and by the growing interest, also in Italy, of venture capital as an investment tool for qualified operators and private clients.
2-3 investments will be closed within the year
The teams will close several deals in the coming months. “The pipeline for the new fund is active: We will close 2-3 investments within the year which have already been extensively analyzed, so we have a well-nourished pipeline across several geographies,” explained the CEO.
Neva II, compared to Neva First, says Costantini, has a different approach: "with the first fund we had an approach in some cases exploratory, applying more timid allocations even in companies we were totally confident about. Now we have clarity on the fact that when the pattern is good we must accelerate and invest more resources. We need to be more courageous right from the start in allocating capital. Where we believe in it, we need to push and take the largest possible share because that's where we'll have the greatest profit." "We want to contribute more within the companies, follow their growth, mark the expected growth points well, to do this we need to count within the companies," echoed the president.
The collection comes from institutions but also from private individuals
The period of subscription will end in 2026 and the company will use this time to "talk with pension funds (starting with the largest ones such as those of engineers, doctors, pharmacists), pension funds and banking foundations. We will do this by showing what we are doing with the first exit, a 8-10% of the capital already returned, which if I compare it to any less risky product seems like an excellent result to me."
The collection will not be limited to these institutional investors but it will also be done on the market, with resources from private individuals and large families, also thanks to the great Intesa Sanpaolo network. It will still be a concentrated collection on Italy, even if the first steps are being taken to make Neva emerge abroad too: “We started with our country, with our Italian subscribers, and then we have already started the authorization path and in some cases already obtained a license as in European Community – says the CEO – We have had positive feedback from regulators and we have started discussions. The strategy includes theexpansion of partners also abroad, obviously it's about positioning ourselves, making ourselves known and this is a medium-term challenge".
Looking at exit, “we are totally confident about the exits of our companies, because they are all companies that have a well-defined and clear path, both from an industrial and financial point of view”, said Costantini, who sees the “ IPO reopening” for the exit, because “there are also positive structural signals such as the lowering of interest rates and other signals. There are all the conditions for a healthy market even in this asset class, where there have been moments of speculative bubbles, with listed companies without any underlying that then lost most of their value. We have the back to basics and we invest in companies with value”.
Focus on life sciences and hi-tech
At today's event in Turin, Neva Sgr has chosen to dedicate the second of the round tables to life sciences, hosting representatives of two world-class medical research leaders frontier companies that are already part of the portfolio of Neva First: Matthew Porteus, co-founder and CEO of Kamau Therapeutics (human genome editing biotechnology), and Maria Grazia Roncarolo, co-founder, president of research and development of Tr1X (biotechnology for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases).
Representing the hi-tech sector instead, some founders and managers of the companies in the portfolio of the Neva funds participated: Guido Meardi, co-founder and CEO of V-Nova (innovative software for video and image compression technologies); Guy Moskowitz, co-founder and CEO of Coro (Artificial Intelligence for cybersecurity); Luca Rossettini, co-founder and CEO of D-Orbit (space logistics and orbital transport services); Paolo Cavallini, chief of staff of Energy Dome (long-life CO2 batteries); Matteo Vanotti, co-founder and CEO of xFarm (digital management of agricultural companies). The dialogue on growth and value prospects was also animated thanks to the contribution of Massimo Della Ragione, professor of Practice in Investment Banking at Bocconi University and Sda Bocconi School of Management, and Andrea Mayr, head of Client Coverage & Advisory, Imi Corporate & Investment Banking Division of Intesa Sanpaolo.
Intesa President Grospietro: “Neva is proof that it is possible to invest in innovation”
“Today is an important day in the life of Neva Sgr; short but already full of successes alongside the parent company Intesa Sanpaolo, which is living its fifth century”, stated the president of Intesa Sanpaolo Gian Maria Gros-Pietro.
“We created Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, to create an innovation ecosystem, and Neva Sgr, to invest in the best innovative companies. Neva started four years ago with 100 million euros provided by the bank and we have seen it work well; it has made itself known and appreciated by the markets. Today, given the results obtained, we are convinced that the time has come to grow further. Neva is the proof that it is possible, even in Italy, to invest in innovation producing attractive results for investors.”
(Last update: 16.30pm on Wednesday 18 September).
