At Tech.eu we are always keen to receive pitches from companies outside the big three — UK, France, and Germany. We've always regretted not receiving enough from Italian founders.
But over the last few months, I'm hearing that Italy's startup ecosystem is undergoing a renaissance.
I recently sat down with Gianluca Cocco, Qomodo's CEO and co-founder, and Louis Dussart, European VP at RTP Global, to learn why now is a great time for founders and investors to focus on Italy.
In January 2025, RTP Global led a €13.5 million Series A funding round for Qomodo, an Italian fintech startup that provides digital payment solutions, including Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) options, to physical merchants.
Gianluca Cocco successfully exited two ventures before founding Qomodo. His first exit took place in 2018 in Italy, where he was the Managing Director of Delivery Hero's Italian branch. The second occurred in 2022 in Spain when he co-founded and later sold Factory14, a company specializing in acquiring and scaling e-commerce brands.
In addition to leading Qomodo, Gianluca is an active angel investor, focusing on early-stage startups in fintech, SaaS, and AI.
What is the state of the market?
Italy is home to several unicorns, including Bending Spoons, Scalapay, Satispay, and iGenius, as well as a plethora of startups in quantum, hardware, AI, and health tech.
However, Cocco asserts that Italy's startup ecosystem is still in an early phase compared to countries like France, Germany, and the UK.
Yet, the country has been undergoing digital transformation in response to COVID-19. According to Cocco:
"Italy is a major European market, yet for years, it lagged in technological adoption. The gap is now closing due to government initiatives, investment funds, and a new generation of entrepreneurs."
There has been noticeable progress, particularly at the Pre-seed and Seed stages.
Over the last year, we've seen funds raised by companies such as:
- Imperia, creator of a SaaS platform to enhance supply chain management for both small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large corporations
- Payments platform Sibill
- Legaltech scaleup Lexroom.ai
- Italian stratospheric balloon tech company Involve
In December, EKORE secured €1.3 million Seed funding, leading Italy's largest digital twin investment of 2024
How does Private investment compare to Public?
Dussart shared that Italy has followed a path similar to France, creating a sovereign fund to promote startups and early-stage investment. The CDP (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) fund plays a key role, injecting capital into startups and venture capital funds.
During COVID, the Italian government committed €1 billion to innovation. This funding has now expanded, with more focus on deeptech, AI, and semiconductors.
Dussart shared that while Italy isn't yet at the level of France or the UK in these areas, it is making long-term strategic investments.
Italy is investing in AI and semiconductor manufacturing, but it's still in the early stages.
"There are initiatives to develop Italian-trained large language models (LLMs) and a chip manufacturing facility in Sicily. However, compared to the AI race in the US, UK, and France, Italy has ground to make up."
We've also seen growth in private funding of the Italian startup ecosystem.
In May last year, Italy's Rialto Ventures secured funding for more than €55 million. The following June, Italian Venture Capital fund Italian Founders Fund (IFF) raised its debut €50 million fund.
This month, Italian private early-stage venture capital firm Vento has launched its second fund — committing €75 million over the next five years.
Cocco sees a noticeable shift in mindset. In the past, top graduates would pursue careers at McKinsey, Amazon, or other global corporations. Now, more young professionals are opting to build their own companies instead.
"While some founders — like myself — have previous startup experience, most new startups in Italy are led by first-time founders aged 24-26. This shift signals a cultural change, where building a startup is now seen as a viable career path."
The barriers to startup success in Italy
While Italy's startup scene is growing and evolving, like most countries, attracting top talent remains a challenge.
According to Cocco, unlike Paris, Berlin, or London, Milan and Turin are still developing as international startup hubs.
Milan and Turin are growing, but they are not yet major magnets for global talent.
"Most companies, including Qomodo, have adapted by hiring remotely. Our product and tech teams are fully remote, with some employees based in Germany and France.
For now, this model works, but attracting highly skilled professionals in deep tech fields like AI and quantum computing remains difficult."
"Italy could catch up with Spain's startup scene within the next 8-10 years"
Dussart sees scaling successful startups beyond Series A as the key factor for Italian startups to grow.
Over the past year, we've seen more international investors, including Partech, LocalGlobe, RTP Global, and Picus Capital, lead Series A rounds in Italy.
He notes:
"However, Italy still lacks Series B funds, and late-stage capital is scarce. The ecosystem will only mature if international investors continue backing Italian startups in later funding rounds.
If this happens, Italy could catch up with Spain's startup scene within the next 8-10 years."
Further, the strategy of founding for scale has evolved.
According to Cocco, while previously, startups would try to scale in multiple markets simultaneously, often requiring substantial capital, today the strategy is different:
"We first focus on dominating a key market, ensuring strong cash flow, and then use that foundation to expand strategically.
For example, when I returned to Italy after selling Foodora Italy to Glovo, I saw that the landscape had changed post-COVID.
Companies like Glovo built their dominance in Spain and Italy before expanding further. This inspired our approach at Qomodo—establishing leadership in Italy before scaling across Europe."
Dussart notes that Italy has always had strong entrepreneurial talent, but many of its top founders have historically left the country for better opportunities.
"For example, the founders of King (Candy Crush), Kong, FreeTrade, and TrueLayer are all Italian but built their companies abroad.
Now, we are seeing a shift. Founders like Gianluca have gained experience abroad and are returning to Italy to build their companies. If this trend continues, these returning founders will become pillars of the Italian ecosystem in the next 5-10 years."
Italian startups to watch
Filiomed
Fideliomed is a healthcare diagnostics company that has developed a point-of-care technology and digital health platform to diagnose and monitor iron deficiency (anaemia) in outpatients. This condition is a significant public health issue, often underdiagnosed and affecting one in four people in doctor's waiting rooms, with women and certain patient groups being particularly at risk.
Fideliomed's solution provides doctors and pharmacists with an easy-to-use, multimarker test for quick diagnosis, enabling real-time treatment during medical visits or at pharmacy clinics. It helps avoid diagnostic errors and reduces costs associated with disease progression.
KLISBio
KLISBio is a biotechnology company developing biomaterials for medical applications, particularly in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
It specialises in collagen-based biomaterials for wound healing, soft tissue repair, and other medical applications.
Neuronova
Neuronova is a deeptech startup based in Milan that is developing a neuromorphic processor that directly emulates brain function at the hardware level, where neurons and synapses are physical structures on silicon.
The processor makes it possible to perform AI tasks with up to 1.000 times lower energy consumption than current solutions, all within a chip measuring just 3 mm x 3 mm.
OlivAir
Olivair has developed a drone to support olive harvesting.. By generating controlled gusts of wind, the drone prompts olives to fall naturally from the tree at the perfect stage of ripeness, optimising both yield and quality.
The drone operates three times faster than traditional mechanical shakers, significantly reducing labour and time requirements. It is especially beneficial in steep or high-slope areas where conventional equipment struggles to perform efficiently. It supports sustainability by running on battery power, eliminating fossil fuel dependence, and using wind energy to gently detach olives without damaging the trees.
Planckian
Planckian is a Pisa-based deep-tech startup pioneering quantum battery technology by leveraging quantum mechanics principles.
It focuses on solid-state energy systems where quantum effects enable particles to store energy more efficiently. Their approach could lead to batteries that retain energy indefinitely, overcoming the limitations of classical electrochemistry.
By exploiting "collective" high-energy states of qubits, they aim to create sustainable energy technologies governed by quantum mechanics. This could redefine energy storage for applications like renewables, EVs, or grid systems.
UBT
UBT (Umbria Bioengineering Technologies) has developed MammoWave, an innovative breast imaging device designed for the early detection of breast cancer.
Utilising microwave imaging technology, MammoWave offers a safe alternative to traditional mammography by eliminating the use of ionizing radiation (X-rays).
Lead image: Freepix.
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