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More venture capital funds for innovative start-ups

There are more opportunities for the creation of new innovative enterprises in Emilia-Romagna. More new venture capital funds have been added to those already in existence (like the Ingenium fund) providing an important instrument for the support of entrepreneurial ideas and projects.

Innovative start-ups are often characterized by a high financial risk that is offset, however, by a high yield when the business gains entry to the market. Now the list of funds accessible for enterprises in the Region is longer, and consists of: TTVenture, Innogest Capital, Fondo Ingenium, 360° Capital, Principia. These are funds with particular features that can operate in different ways.

One of the newest is TTventure, an Italian fund managed by State Street Global Advisors established to provide financial support for technological transfer. At the moment, the fund has an operational  capital of 60 million, with plans for growth. As regards the territorial area of activity, the fund operates at the national level, and also abroad (Europe and Israel) but many foundations that participate in it are linked to the Emilia-Romagna Region. They are the Cassa di Risparmi di Forlì foundation, those of Modena and Parma, as well as the Cariplo, Cuneo, Teramo foundations and the Chamber of Commerce of Milan. The fund will invest in all stages of technological transfer and will operate mainly in the sectors of biomedicine, science of materials, agriculture and food as well as energy and environmental technologies.

Innogest Capital is a fund operating in northern Italy that has now reached 80 million in total operational capital. This fund also invests in innovative new enterprises, especially in the media and TLC, information and communications technology, renewable energy, biomedical, advanced mechanics sectors. Innogest was also established very recently, and just announced its first two investments, one of which is in Silicon Biosystems, a company with headquarters in Bologna, operating in the biomedical sector. For this start-up, Innogest performed the role of lead-investor in which a total investment of 5.5 million euro is involved.

Other venture capital funds are less recent. One of these is Ingenium, created following a measure of the European program Objective 2 of the Emilia-Romagna Region. It is the first Italian seed-capital fund with mixed public and private capital. It is managed by Zernike Meta Ventures Spa and has an operational capital of 7 million. The Ingenium Fund requires that the company be located in the “Objective 2” or “phasing-out” zones of Emilia-Romagna.

360° Capital Partners, on the other hand, is a venture capital fund managed by the company of the same name, and it also invests in start-ups in the high-tech sector. It operates in Italy and France. The fund capital is 100 million and one of its most important investments was in the virtual boutique of fashion and design Yoox, based in Bologna. 

Lastly, there is Principia, managed by sgr Quantica; it is a fund reserved for institutional investors with, among its shareholders, the National Research Council (CNR), the National Interuniversity Consortium for the Science and Technology of Materials (INSTM) and the Consortium for the development of Large Interface Systems (CSGI). The fund capital is 15.5 million.