Three of the main players in the startup sector have formed an alliance that looks far ahead: the fulcrum of the initiative is Digital Magics, the Milanese incubator founded by Enrico Gasperini, an Italian digital entrepreneur who died prematurely last year, who acquired a 35% stake in the capital of Withfounders, a business accelerator whose portfolio includes prominent names such as Brandon Ferrari, Jusp, DeRev, Formabilio and others and which all thirteen startups, which in 2015 they recorded an aggregate turnover of more than 15 million euros.
The third component of the agreement is Innogest, one of the most important Italian venture capital funds, also a partner of Withfounders – of which it brings "as a dowry" 28% of the shares, in addition to 500.000 euros – with 180 million of managed capital and offices in Milan, Turin and San Francisco.
The partnership will work like this: Innogest will put the money, Withfounders and Digital Magics will take care of selecting, weaning and growing businesses; even if in the startup sector the roles are often blurred, so it is possible that the skills of one or more of these subjects overlap each other. Of course, a new pole of all importance is created.
From the Digital Magics network realities such as Talent Garden are also part of it, the main European coworking space and the investment bank Tamburi Investment Partners, which has stakes in some of the major Italian companies (such as Eataly, Ferrari, Furla and others). In the at times asphyxiated ecosystem of Italian startups, there is a new subject of weight.
