Nevermind (NVM), a VC Fund focused on investing in deeptech dual use frontier technologies in Italy and Europe, has officially launched. NVM Ventures announces a €23.6 million first close for the NVM Venture Lazio compartment, against a final fundraising target of €35 million.
The compartment aims to build a portfolio of 10–15 dual-use companies at Pre-Seed and Seed stage working in STEP Technologies, acting mainly as lead investor in startups with international growth potential and with a firm commitment to strengthening the innovation ecosystem of the Lazio Region.
Key investors include Lazio Innova, which committed €18.83 million through Lazio Venture 2, the Lazio Region's fund of funds co-financed by the ERDF Regional Programme 2021–2027, under which the new compartment was selected.
A multi-compartment model allows NVM Ventures to pair each investment thesis with a team that has specialist expertise, while giving emerging managers a shared institutional framework for governance, risk management and compliance.
Andrea Bonabello and Niccolò Bienati, founding partners and board members of the General Partner, founded the fund and lead its strategic direction. They are joined by Giorgio Gulienetti and Alessandro Casiraghi, fund managers at the delegated manager and key persons for the NVM Venture Lazio compartment.
The team brings together experience in domestic and international venture capital, corporate finance, professionalising and scaling technology companies, and technologies tied to critical sectors such as aerospace and defence.
NVM Venture Lazio invests in deep tech startups with dual-use applications. Its core sectors include aerospace, maritime, robotics and autonomous systems, cybersecurity, AI for defence, energy infrastructure, new materials, advanced manufacturing and biotechnology.
Lazio is the only Italian region that hosts the entire aerospace value chain, from research to manufacturing to services. According to Lazio Region data, more than 300 companies with around 23,000 employees operate in advanced technologies across the region, generating annual revenues of over €5 billion, including €1.6 billion in exports.
Giorgio Gulienetti, Fund Manager of the NVM Venture Lazio compartment, shared that the technologies that will shape European security over the next decade are emerging today outside traditional industrial boundaries: in university labs, spin-offs and small, engineering-intensive companies.
"Our job is to spot them early, understand their true ambition and guide them towards customers with long procurement cycles and very demanding requirements.
That takes technical expertise and deep knowledge of the supply chains, not just capital. Lazio is the right place to do it, because here research, industry and institutions are only a few kilometres apart.”
According to Andrea Ciampalini, Director General of Lazio Innova:
“With NVM Venture Lazio, we are further expanding the specialist expertise in dual-use frontier technologies within the regional venture capital platform.
Investing in a first-time fund also reflects our commitment to backing emerging managers with distinctive skills, helping build new professional and investment capabilities for the benefit of the entire ecosystem.”
Lead image: Giorgio Giulienetti, Alessandro Casiraghi, Niccolò Bienati, and Andrea Bonabello. NVM.
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