The investments made in Italy in venture capital during the first three months of 420 amount to 2022 million euros. a growth in invested capital of +35% compared to the first quarter of 2021. This is the photograph that emerges from the first Observatory on Venture Capital in Italy, created by Cross Border Growth Capital, the Italian advisor specializing in capital increases and corporate finance transactions for startups and scaleups, in collaboration with the Italian Tech Alliance, the Italian association of Venture Capital, investors in innovation and innovative startups and SMEs . The report was presented today, Wednesday 27 April, during an event held at Le Village by CA Milano.
All the numbers of venture capital in Italy
Going into detail, the Observatory shows that in the first quarter of 2022 they were 54 financing rounds closed (6 Serie A, 4 Serie B, 2 Serie C and 1 Serie D) and 10 exits recorded. “Without considering capital raised in the form of debt, total investments amount to 420 million euros, up 35% compared to the first quarter of 2021”, underlines the report.
The analysis also highlights how the first quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2021 (with 547 million) exceeded the corresponding quarters in the previous five years. In particular, the first three months of 2022 recorded the second best result of the last five years, with 2 deals exceeding 50 million (ScalaPay and Moneyfarm) and an average amount raised of 7,8 million euros.
For the type of rounds Serie B (with 228,7 million) account for a share of 54% of the total invested, "since however it is strongly influenced by the ScalaPay mega round (equal to almost half of the total raised in the quarter)", reads the study. In terms of number of rounds, after having stabilized around 10 from 2018 to 2020, Serie B reached 19 in 2021.
Despite having collected less than Serie B, Serie A constitute the real hard core of the total invested thanks to a more homogeneous distribution between the rounds. In the first quarter of 2022, approximately 73 million euros were collected (+13% compared to the same period of 2021). There has also been a considerable increase in the average and median size: the former has almost doubled the 2021 figures, reaching 8,6 million; the second grew almost 3 times, reaching 8 million. Finally, the Seed rounds are the most represented type (32 deals), with an average denomination of just over one million euros.
Scalapay excels, Fintech flies
"Considering that the Research Observatory considers only the part collected in equity, the first five rounds of Q1 2022 appear to be those of scalapay (Series B, 188,1 million), Moneyfarm (Series D, 53 million), Planet Farms (Series A, 30 million), Everli (Series C, 22 million) and Kither Biotech (Series B, 18,5 million)” underlines the Observatory.
From a sectoral point of view, however, Fintech excels with 253,5 million collected in the first quarter of 2022 through 9 rounds, followed by Food and Agriculture (53,5 million in 4 rounds), by Life Sciences (47,5 million in 7 rounds).
“After a 2021 that represented the record year for the Italian VC, which with over 260 deals closed and over 1,2 billion euros invested had exceeded the threshold of one billion euros in funding for the first time, the numbers of the first quarter of 2022 they tell us that Italy is continuing to grow in the entire sector – he explains Francesco Cerruti, general manager of the Italian Tech Alliance -. The data emerging from the Observatory indicate that even if there is still a lot of work to do, we are on the right track to reduce the gap that separates Italy from other countries European countries and grow a sector that is increasingly central to the country's economy, concludes Cerruti.
“We are proud to have co-created the first quarterly Observatory on Italian Venture Capital with the Italian Tech Alliance, an important moment for sharing the main figures, achievements and trends in the sector. As Growth Capital, we are convinced that Italian VC will maintain strong growth in 2022, with an increasingly important participation of foreign investors, some of which are making their first investment in our country. We also expect more and more exits useful for accelerating the development of the ecosystem through the reinvestment of financial resources, experience and know-how", he comments Fabio Mondini de Focatiis, Founder & CEO of Cross Border Growth Capital.
