IBM points on the IT security made in Italy by acquiring CrossIdeas

ROME - 31 July 2014: IBM (NYSE: IBM) points on the IT security made in Italy with the acquisition of the Italian CrossIdeas, a privately held provider of security software that governs user access to applications and data across on-premise and cloud environments. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the burden of more government regulations and increasing sophistication of security threats, business leaders are demanding that IT and security executives implement access governance policies and solutions that provide visibility into operational and IT risks. Based in Rome, Italy, CrossIdeas helps organizations seamlessly manage identities and application access by bridging the gap between compliance, business, and IT infrastructure to help reduce the risk of fraud, conflicts of duties, and human error in business processes. 

The acquisition of CrossIdeas extends IBM's leadership in delivering innovation, services and software for securing enterprises. IBM has now made more than a dozen acquisitions in security over the past decade and invested extensively in dedicated research and development in the security space. This blend of organic innovation and acquired technologies is helping IBM customers defend against advanced threats and manage risk in an era of unprecedented technology change.

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VAM Investment injects €3M in Genny Mobility for the developement of its innovative segway wheelchair

MILAN - 30 July 2014: VAM Investments SpA, the  holding company of the private equity firm founded by Marco Piana and Ennio Valerio Boccardi, announced the acquisition of a significant minority stake in Genny Mobility via a €3M in capital increase carried out via a dedicated investment vehicle. 

Founded in 2012 by Paolo Badano, inventor, and  Claudio Poggio, the multinational company Genny Mobility (www.gennymobility.com) is the maker of Genny the revolutionary two-wheel, self-balancing motorized segway wheelchair that is changing the lives of paraplegics restoring their independence in mobility on any terrain, all with a design and style far away from the traditional view of disability. The injected liquidity will finance the international development, given the presence of Genny in many European countries, and further investments in innovative technology for the product. 

Paolo Badano, Founder and CEO of Genny Mobility, commented: "With the VAM  investment we bring to completion the development phase of the product and start of commercial operations, entering into a phase of accelerated international growth.

Genny is not only a revolutionary product, but it also represents an innovative vision of disability that breaks the mold of traditional schemes and points directly to the quality of life by "sitting." We are delighted to have found in VAM a partner who contributes  with expertise and resources to the realization of this vision. "

Marco Piana, founder of VAM Investments

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Midnight Call raises €500k in seed funding to focus on the expansion of Fazland.com

Milan, July 30, 2014 - Midnight Call, the Reggio Emilia, Italy-based startup which has given rise to Fazland.com, the digital platform that aims to revolutionize the market for household services, announces the entry of new financial partners in the company shareholding.

With the injection €500,000 Milan-based early-stage investor RedSeed Ventures and a syndicate of  "business angels" enter in the share capital of Midnight Call. In addition to the founders joins the capital also Federico Panini, already CTO of the company and part of the team for more than a year. 

The injected liquidity will be used to finance the capillary expansion of Fazland.com on the Italian territory and to test the service abroad  starting from two European cities, as well as to make available the service through smartphone applications and tablets. 

"Fazland represents for us an ideal target for investment, as the service is placed in a still

poorly garrisoned niche in Italy where it is missing a key player. The business model is highly scalable and exportable abroad, the team is young, highly motivated, with significant work experience already gained in other companies. In the coming months we will be working with the team to expand the current customer base and launch new categories of services. "Said Roberto Zanco, partner at RedSeed Ventures. 

"Fazland is the example of the perfect opportunity for a business angel, which can make available to startup a small money investment and experience, with the aim of supporting the team in the industrialization of the service and go-to market, so as to prepare the ground for subsequent funding targeting to the expansion of the scope and internationalization, "said Fausta Pavesio, Co-founder & Executive Director of Easynex and member of the Executive Council of Italia Startup, representing private investors.

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LVenture raises €4.79M via capital increase to invest in new innovative startups

LVenture Group, a Rome, Italy-based investment holding company listed on the MTA managed by the Italian Stock Exchange which operates at international level in the sector of venture capital, closed on 25 July the subscription of 96.52% of the share capital increase of LVenture, announced on April 30, for a total of over €4.79M. The venture capital firm that controls the LUISS EnLabs accelerator of the University of Rome, founded by Luigi Capello in 2010 and publicly traded, brings thus to a total of nearly 9 million euro its share capital. The goal is to increase the tools available to innovative companies and arrive at the first exit of subsidiaries by 2015. "Some are already performando very well," said Luigi Capello own. 

The capital increase occurred mainly through the issuance of 7,100,000 shares, the offering period began on July 7 and ended on July 25. During the offer period, which started on 7 and ended on July 25, said in a statement, have been exercised 10,279,680 option rights and then subscribed 6,853,12o million new shares, representing 96.52% of the total number of new shares for a total amount of 4,797,184 Euros. The reference shareholder, LVenture Holding Srl subscribed 1,428.572 new shares, equal to 20,12% of the total.

The LVenture fund has currently 22 companies in the portfolio on which it has invested, 14 of which coming from the acceleration program and 8 direct seed financing. Until now LVenture has directly invested €3M along with €6M coming by other investors.

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Marinanow raises €370k in seed funding from United Ventures

Do you really need to recall VCs attention by having an original product, innovative technology or a scalable business model, such that books of the theory of startups require. Paolo Codina, Alessandro Sestini, Diego Atzeni and Andrea Corvaglia know the right technology, but at the same time they do love the sea and boats. Two years ago, they came up with the idea to bring the logic of the Internet in a world that still operates mainly in analog mode.

Marinanow is an online platform allowing sailors to search for places to moor their boats in marinas, compare prices between different marinas and book online, it has already surpassed its competitors in terms of raised funds. 
Indeed Marinanow has raised €370,000 of early stage investment from United Ventures the largest Italian technology VC Fund led by Paolo Gesses and Massimiliano Magrini, against €250,000 and € 150,000 raised by SailSquare and Barcheyacht. 

Founded in Sardinia, Italy, in 2012, Marinanow was created by Alessandro Sestini, Paolo Codina and Andrea Corvaglia who all have experience working in marinas. Spun out of the The Net Value incubator, the site offers boat chartering, hiring berths from privates (an Airbnb style service for the nautical world) and refuelling services.

The current systems for booking places for private boats in marinas both in the mediterranean and worldwide is outdated and complicated. There is no one unified system for managing bookings so owners of boats currently have to search for phone numbers of directors of the marina, overcome language and time difference and ring them up to check for and reserve places. If that marina is full, or the director is difficult to reach, the boat owners have to search again for nearby ports.

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Metooo closes €450k second funding round and appoints the new board of directors

Metooo, a Naples, Italy-based all-in-one platform for event storytelling, completed a €450k second funding round, just 9 months after its first seed funding round of November 2013 when the company raised €60k in seed funding. The funding was exclusively raised among private business angels and signs a new direction in the panorama of the italian venture capital.

New investors who bring capital important for development, but also a network of international relations, specific know-how and training fruit of their experience as well as entrepreneurial success. 

The raised funds will allow the continued development of the digital service, whose completion is scheduled for the spring of 2015, a date which will mark the beginning of the internationalization push after an initial period of acceleration which will begin in September, with the opening of the office London of Metooo as a springboard for the UK and USA/CANADA markets.

The operation was coordinated by Studio Bambino & Partners, which acted as advisor of Metooo. 

On this occasion, has been appointed the new Board of Directors, which includes Dr. Carlo Capasso, Dr. Riccardo Romeo, who assumes the role of President, and Dr. Ferdinando Caruso, who was appointed CEO. 

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Target reached: Cantiere Savona successfully closed €380k fund raising on StarsUp's crowdfunding platform

Cantiere Savona, the Sardinia-based innovative solar-power luxury yachts design startup succeeded to raise 100% of the needed funds thanks to the issue of public shares through StarsUp 's innovative equity-crowdfunding platform. 

Livorno, July 24, 2014 -  Cantiere Savona, the innovative shipyard company has completed its capital raising process through StarsUp, the first Italian Equity crowdfunding platform authorized by Consob (Italian Financial Markets Authority). The target sum of €380k, equal to a 20% share of the company, was raised in 170 day, with 44 new investorsm includind two "professional". This is so far the most important fund raising web-campaign of its kind.

"A complete success" - said Matteo Piras, 43, accountant

from Livorno, President and co-founder, along with colleagues Carlo Piras and Alessandro Scutti, of StarsUp Srl an, Equity crowdfunding platform registered as No. 1 in the CONSOB registry - "

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IMPACT is born, an innovative model of start-ups accelerator: €6.4M for 64 start-ups

Milan, 23 July 2014 - A new startups accelerator is born. The European Consortium made up by ISDI,  b-ventures, the startup accelerator of Buongiorno, Seaya Ventures, Teknologiudviking ApS, and a network of entrepreneurs and well-know professionals of the digital European ecosystem is launching IMPACT which, as of today, is starting (Mobile Internet, Projects Accelerator), its activity as mobile Internet project accelerator with the ambitous aim to finance and accelerate 64 European startups in the coming two years. IMPACT is endowed with €6.4M to invest in start-ups wherein these funds, which amount to an average of €100k per project, will be non-recoverable without equity consideration.

IMPACT is one of the 16 consortiums chosen by the European Commission within the framework of Seventh Program Framework. IMPACT top scored among the 92 projects submitted, of which only 16 accelerators were chosen for the implementation of the FI-PPP initiative (Future Internet Public-Private-Parttnerhip). FI-PPP will provide the selected start-ups with the base technology with the purpose of creating an open environment wherein EU SMEs can take advantage of. The aim of IMPACT is to select and accelerate start-ups associated with mobile Internet which can adopt these European digital technologies (FI-Ware and FI-Content). The accelerator looks for entrepreneurs or start-ups projects that develop mobile apps or business models based on mobility in the communications areas, social, video, media & advertising; design, education, entertainment, e-commerce, peripheral devices, content, connected TV, infrastructure, security, productivity, finance, smart cities and social networks, among others.

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Cambiomerci.com Raises Seed Funding from Digital Magics

Italian Venture Incubator Digital Magics, through its controlled incubator 56CUBE, has acquired a 12 pct stake in Cambiomerci.com, the Milan-based startup operating an online barter platform specialized on a corporate barter systems, allowing companies to buy and sell products and services among themselves, without cash transactions, but with a complementary currency. 

With this operation, the Digital Magics through its controlled incubator 56CUBE add the startup innovative within its portfolio, and will support Cambiomerci.com  with acceleration services of digital business for the development of newborn start-up comoany. 56CUBE will have the chance to climb up to 20% of Cambiomerci.com, based on the achieved results.

The web platform of Cambiomerci.com will be renewed by the technological point of view with innovative tools and features, and its new look will also be released in the coming weeks. The two incubators will provide the startup with its proper network of Italian and international relations, with the aim of expanding the circuit Cambiomerci.com with more than 5,000 companies. Cambiomerci.com will strengthen its market position and will be seeking to become the first complementary payment system in Italy, integrating within the traditional payment system and responding to the need to combine the current historical moment of economic crisis with extraordinary opportunities of growth of digital space.

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VEM Report: 66 new Investments in Seed and Startups in Italy in 2013: + 16% with respect to 2012

Milan 15th July, 2014 - the Italian venture capital provides signs of vitality, although the numbers remain limited. According to the research report 'Venture Capital Monitor' - carried out by the Watchdog Venture Capital Monitor of the University Cattaneo of Castellanza, in collaboration with AIFI, the Italian private equity and venture capital association, and with the contribution of Vertis sgr, one of the leading italian investment companies - in 2013 were made 66 new investments in seed (investment in the very first stage of experimentation of a business idea) and start-up (investment in the start of a business idea), an increase of 16% over 2012 (57 deals) and +53% over 2011 (43 deals). Overall were invested €58M in growth from the €49M of 2012.

The report, it said in a statement, stresses the positive impact of the startup decree, which entered into force in December 2012, and the fund's high-tech fund for Southern Italy.

When it comes to venture capital, it is useful to reflect on the fact that it is a capital that enables the translation of new ideas into enterprise or support for the very first phase of activity of a reality still at its early stage, "says Anna Gervasoni, General Manager AIFI" it is, therefore, a capital that allows you to take the first development paths and generates innovative processes able to spray the entire business system. in other words, venture capital is a growth factor and, despite the difficulties of the Italian market, it has fostered over the years the development and evolution of our production system."

The number of active investors (i.e. those who have made at least one transaction during the year) amounted to 31 (32 with the addition of the category of 'business angels'), in line with 2012; the total number of investments amounted to 86 (there were just 57 operations in 2012). 

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1000 Italy raised €200k in seed funding from Maccorp Italian

1000 Italy, the innovative Rome-based startup that has developed a mobile incoming tourism app, has raised €200k in seed funding from Maccorp Italiana active in the field of currency exchange which operates Forexchange, with which it has signed an important agreement.

Under the agreement, Maccorp enters the capital of 1000 Italy and supports it commercially. The investment held by Maccorp amounted to EUR 100 thousand in cash plus an additional 100 thousand euro in value of commercial support and services that Maccorp provides 1000 Italy. 
Exchange brokers such as Forexchange - is to be read in a statement - are a must for all types of travelers. 

This important alliance which will bring as immediate benefit to 1000 Italy the visibility of their business proposal through an authoritative and immediate point of contact with visitors to our country.

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Tagetik raises $37M (€27M) in growth capital from White Brigde Investments

LUCCA (ITALY) AND STAMFORD, CT (U.S.) 17 July 2014 - Tagetik, a global provider of enterprise software solutions for performance and disclosure management, financial governance and business intelligence, announced the successful completion of a capital increase and sale of a minority stake to White Bridge Investments SpA. 

The $36 (€27) million capital investment will enable Tagetik to accelerated growth in strategic international markets, enhance the organizational and commercial structure to support future growth as well as promote product innovation in key areas including cloud, in-memory, mobility and the development of industry vertical and process-specific, pre-packaged solutions. 

For the year ending December 31, 2013 Tagetik reported record revenues and 25% revenue growth, the 12th straight year of double-digit growth. The growth trend is continuing with 35% year-over-year revenue growth during the first six months of 2014. 

The current leadership team Tagetik which has successfully grown the company into a major player in the CPM market will remain in place to drive future growth. In particular, Tagetik announces the appointment of founder Pierluigi Pierallini as Chairman of the Board and of Marco Pierallini and Manuel Vellutini as Co-CEOs.

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P-Commerce raises €250k in seed funding from Withfounders and Capital B!

Milan, 14 July, 2014 - WithFounders, the first italian seed accelerator whose founders are all startup entrepreneurs, together with VC fund Capital B! and some private investors have subscribed the capital increase of €250k of P-Commerce the Syracuse, Sicily-based, startup who manages the e-commerce websites Progetto Wedding (wedding project) and Progetto Torte (project cakes).

Progetto Wedding is the e-commerce site dedicated to the purchase of products and services for weddings, wedding dresses, wedding souvenirs, from confetti to caketoppers. Following the recent agreement with Matrimonio.it, the products and services of Progetto Wedding are directly accessible to the community of future spouses and wedding planners. Progetto Torte is a portal entirely dedicated to professionals and enthusiasts of cake design, who can purchase the equipment and materials to make pies and cakes.  

P-Commerce is completing the acceleration program of b-ventures, the startup accelerator

of Buongiorno. With the capital increase P-Commerce will become in a few months Martha's Cottage, an online department store that will collect in the various "rooms" of the cottage, the offer of Progetto Wedding for weddings, of Progetto Cakes for the fans of cake design, and new e-commerce verticals devoted to family and friends, from that specialized in selling diapers and products for the care and hygiene of children to the online shop where to buy sex toys.

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