Milan, October 1, 2015 - After having helped Italian and foreign tourists facing the Milan Expo, ZesTrip is now preparing for the Jubilee, the event that will bring 33 million tourists and pilgrims in Rome. Now close to covering the whole Italian territory, it prepares to land abroad in the major European capitals. The combination of sharing economy coupled with the social inclination of the platform, which connects the locals with travelers, has also convinced a group of Angel Investors led by Stefano Calderano, currently CEO of JUSP (one of the few Italian startup that has received a venture capital financing with six zeros - read here), to invest over one hundred thousand Euros in the project.
The startup, incubated by PoliHub of the Polytechnic University of Milan, was born earlier this year by the idea of Italian guys under30, Michele Arisi, Andrea Pasino and Carlo Vezzoni, friends since long time and flatmates in Milan, with a passion for travel, as well as sharing and innovation. An idea born from a personal experience. Indeed, the ZesTrip's founders had been traveling, backpacks on their shoulders, for almost two months in Southeast Asia through Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam. Once in Luangprabang, the capital of Laos at the time of French colonialism, they had a dinner invitation from the owner of their B&B where he introduced them to Vong. Vong, was a 30 year old Laotian and one of the few who spoke Inglese. He was smiling and excited for the chance to meet his Western peers. The connection was immediate, and by the time of dessert, they were Already planning to hike for the days to come.
Docsity, a Turin, Italy-based online platform that offers a complete service of tutoring for high school and university exams, has received €400k from seven angel investors to support its growth abroad. Among the new investors there are Eric Wahlforss, the co-founder of Soundcloud a provider of a platform that allows musicians to collaborate, promote and distribute their music, Naren Shaam, the founder of Goeuro a fast-growing startup that provides a service to integrate schedules and costs of all means of transport and the product manager for Dropbox. Among other investor there are a Frenchman, a New Yorker and some Italians.
Born in 2011 to allow high school and university students to share notes in an easy and fast way, and established in 2013 as a company by Riccardo Ocleppo, a 30 years-old electrical engineer from Turin, Docsity is a innovative startup with a team of 11 people (average age 27 years) and with 1.2M registered users. The community is growing with an average of 1.5k new registrations a day and has available an archive of 450k notes and over 1M learning resources shared by users.
In 2014 Docsity was awarded in Dubai with the Next Generation Award as most interesting cultural startup of the moment.
Their expertise in the digital (Casalini and Del Rio), tourism (Lonmon) and catering (Maurizio) spaces, will make an important contribution to value creation and growth of the young company which since its foundation in February 2011 has already achieved impressive results. Indeed RestOpolis has a widespread distribution throughout Italy with more than 800 affiliate restaurants, as well as more than 35,000 service users and reaches a user base of more than 1 million people through its partnership network. The company partners with companies such as Touring Club, Ticket Restaurant, the Restaurants Union of the Good Memories, the app City1Tap TIM Social, MilanoCard, Vivimilano.it, DoveViaggi.it, Viaggi24, Secretary and Italiaatavola.net
"RestOpolis is an example of how technology can innovate traditional sectors such as that of food service: going to the restaurant by booking on RestOpolis is both more convenient and less expensive," said Mauro Del Rio. "The company has excellent growth potential and may consolidate its market position."
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Andrea Ghello, Angel, Anna Cardinaletti, BAN Veneto, Bruno Verneau, Enrico Capiozzo, Gabriele Greco, Lisa Danese, Veasyt, Venture Capital
Veasyt, a Venice, Italy-based startup developing digital solutions to break down communication barriers, held today 17th December 2013, at the Chamber of Commerce of Padua, a press release communicating the investment in the spin-off of the University Ca' Foscari of Venice. The startup, registered to BAN Veneto the business angel network of the Veneto region, with the desire to find an investor which could offer the needed resources to launch the company in the market and who would believe in the entrepreneurial project by accompanying it on a growth path, found its Angel Investor in Andrea Ghello, the 51 years old entrepreneur form Vicenza who in 2000 opened the first italian chain of health and beauty store, which was protagonist in 2006 of the Bersani liberalization and of an elegant operation shareholders' widening thanks to the entrance of GE Capital-Interbanca.
Active supporter of BAN Veneto as well as of its capacity to develop ideas, last 11th December, 2013 Andrea Ghello realized the investment by entering the share capital and board of directors of the academic spin-off, which a commitment of €170,000 on the base of an agreement of pre-money valuation of the company at €480,000.
Founded in January 2012 by Enrico Capiozzo (Founder and CEO) Lisa Danese (Co-Founder and Community Manager), Gabriele Greco (Co-Founder and Marketing Manager), Bruno Verneau (Co-Founder and CTO) and Anna Cardinaletti,(Co-Founder and Advisor) Veasyt offers digital professional services for accessibility, and communicates this effort starting form its name: VEASYT = visit + easy, for a more easy visit, a simplified visit. VEASYT srl is an innovative startup, pursuant to "Decreto Sviluppo 2.0" (Development Decree 2.0).
Thursday, October 31, 2013
360° Capital Partners, Angel, IAG, Investment Round, Italian Angel for Growth, Musement, Online Aggregator, Seed, Tourism, Venture Capital
Venture Capital firm 360 Capital Partners and the business angels network Italian Angels for Growth injected €690,000 in the italian, an interesting hub for the world of cultural tourism and art events. The Milan-based startup has raised a total of 690 thousand Euros by IAG members, 360 Capital Partners and a third investor, amount that will be allocated to the development of Musement's app and platform, expanding the range of services provided, for the geographical expansion and strengthening of the structure and for marketing and communications activities. The startup showcases last 30th April, 2013 at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York, introducing its unique service of its kind with the target to emprove users experience in cultural tourism and art events.
Musement.com - which allows access to more than 60 museums, archeological sites and theaters in 25 cities in Italy and which will launch by the end of 2013 its offer abroad (France, UK and USA) and mobility services thanks also to the agreement with Charta (www.vivaticket.it) and Teleart, the ticketing firms of the Best Union group - is an Italian project, the brainchild of four entrepreneurs - Claudio Bellinzona, Paolo Giulini, Alessandro Petazzi , Fabio Zecchini - with the aim to bring together in one place all of the cultural market, which still can not "create a system". Its function is also to simplify the organization and thus improving the visit of many tourists traveling to cultivate their passions.
Milan, 30th October 2013 - Prestiamoci the only Italian startup having a license, as holding company, released by the Bank of Italy for the management of a online P2P lending platform, has raised €190k as part of a €550k capital increase from Digital Magics, the certified venture incubator of innovative startups listed at the AIM Italia segment of the Italian stock exchange, along with Italian and international investors. Thank to the Prestiamoci web platform, investor can lend resources to private persons and companies in a very transparent way, with the professional skills in the credit management typic of the banking system. As of today, Digital Magics, holds 25,61% (€190k) of Agata Spa, the company under which operates the brand name Prestiamoci.
The operation saw the participation of different investors of the Angel Network of Digital Magics - which cooperate with the incubator in the startups' selection, mentorship and co-investment - as well as important private and institutional European and American experts in the field P2P lending on a global level. At the investment round took part also previous lenders who continue to support the business idea of Prestiamoci.
iDooo ICT Investments, investment holding company specialized in seed and early stage investments in innovative companies operating in the Digital Media and ICT space, has been represented by LCAangel investor in the sector, announced yesterday has signed a capital increase of € 211,000 in Eximia, a company founded in 2003 that provides products, develops applications and solutions based on RFID technology.
The investment includes a first tranche of € 100,000 from iDooo that was paid on the signing of the agreement and a second tranche of € 111,000 that will be paid by December this year. As part of the agreement is the divesture of to Pixope, a suite featuring the realization of 3D modules for advanced training of field operators and maintenance personnel in oil-related industries, to Eximia , which will develop through its subsidiary Virthualis, a company involved in the creation of patents and the development of advanced engineering technologies in the field of safety, training and maintenance of industrial plants.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Angel, Angiodroid, IAG, Ingenium Emilia Romagna, Italian Angel for Growth, Seed, Startup, Venture Capital, Zernike Meta Ventures
Bologna, 23rd October 2013 - One more time a group of members of Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the principal Italian network of angel investors, aimed at the field of medical devices and innovation result of Italian research. Italian Angels for Growth has indeed invested €900k ($1.16M) along with Zernita Meta Ventures (for the fund Ingenieum Emilia Romagna II) in the bologna-based start-up Angiodroid Srl, operating in the sector of medical technologies. This €900k could double if determined objectives will be reached commented Angiodroid CEO Sebastiano Zannoli to the financial newspaper "Il Sole 24 Ore".
It is a first round - startup investment aimed at developing new products and a business network in Europe, India, Canada, the Middle East, China, Brazil, Africa. As Michele Marzola, the business angel who coordinated the preparatory operations to close the investment from the side of IAG's shareholders: "Italy expresses excellence both in innovation and in the realization of new medical devices allowing to improve the clinical efficacy on patients and reduce health costs at the same time. Angiodroid is one of those Italian champions in a market in constant growth. The elements that persuaded us to invest in Angiodroid - continues Marzola - are combination the of an innovative product that is already appreciated in the halls angiographic with a team strong, which is characterized by scientific excellence and growth orientation of society."
THE TECHNOLOGY
Angiodroid, founded by two brothers Sebastiano (current CEO) and Samuel Zannoli (software development manager), has developed a medical technology capable of automatically exploiting CO2 characteristics (carbon dioxide) as contrast medium for many different kinds of medical operations (operational radiology, vascular surgery and hemodynamics) in which are currently being used other chemical elements (in angiography usually iodine or iodine-based compounds). Angiodroid's innovative medical technology represent the first fully automated system to perform angiography that uses carbon dioxide as a contrast medium alternative to iodine, thus ensuring greater safety, particularly in patients with renal diseases, thus allowing a completely painless and safe exploration of the blood vessels, with excellent image definition. The funding will be used to develop new products and the sales network in Europe, India, Canada, Middle East, China, Brazil and Africa.
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Angel, Angel Investors, Chef Dovunque, Investment Round, Seed, Startup, Venture Capital, Vertis SGR, WithFouders
Benevento, 21st October 2013 - Chef Dovunque, an Italian start-up picking up homemade and biological ingredients for Italian pasta dishes, by packing and distributing them in pre-measured kits, closed an investment deal worth €1.2 million with Vertis Venture, the venture capital fund of Vertis Sgr, and three angel investors, including WithFouders, a private holding company specialized in seed investments (start up without turnover).
Chef Dovunque - headquarter in the industrial area of the municipality of Pago Veiano (Benevento's province) and with a commercial and marketing office in Milan - was born from the intuition of Antonio Ranaldo, a manager with a passion for cooking, who during his travels around the globe realized how difficult it is to buy abroad the right ingredients to prepare a classic Italian pasta dish. The first step was to patent his idea for register the trademark, followed by the selection in the whole country of artisan ingredients stemming from biological agriculture, obtaining thus the ICEA certification, the Institute for Ethical and Environmental Certification with 28 offices worldwide, 300 technical evaluators and 13,000 subsidiaries. After having identified the recipes that combine the best of traditional peasant simplicity and genuineness of the Mediterranean diet, having designed the packaging, a recyclable box that contains all the pre-measured ingredients and which can be easily stored and transported, Ranaldo has presented his project to institutional investors: the newco Chef Dovunque Srl was founded, with Vertis SGR entering in the company with an investment of €800,000 along with three angel investors participating in the operation with additional €400,000.
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