Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Fatture in Cloud sells Majority Stake to TeamSystem for €1.5M

Pesaro, 23 September 2015 - TeamSystem, leader in the development and distribution of software and services for professionals and SMEs, has acquired a 51% majority stake in Fatture in Cloud, a Bergamo-based innovative startup founded by the 23 years old Daniele Ratti, that aims to revolutionize the world of electronic invoicing for small businesses and professionals with over 40,000 users acquired in a little more just after a year of operations.

€ 1.5M of initial investment with an earn-out (formula through which the payment of the purchase price of a company or of a share it is bound to certain economic, financial or equity conditions) that will be determined depending on the results that the startup will achieve in the next five years: "Fatture in Cloud - says Federico Leproux, CEO of TeamSystem group - is a strategic pillar for us to manage the interconnected system that streamlines the billing process of SMEs and digitalize it, connecting all the players in the system: from the company, to accountants, up to the bank." A simple and accessible service, downloadable from a store on smartphones and tablets, like any other app.

Despite having acquired the majority shares

Monday, September 21, 2015

Innogest announces Capital II final closing at €85M

Innogest SGR has carried out the final closing of the Innogest Capital II fund at about €85M. Thanks to this achievement, that exceeds the original Euro €80M target, Innogest is confirmed as the leading venture capital firm in Italy. Fondo Italiano d’Investimento is among the investors which have supported this closing. 

«We are engaged in supporting and developing leading startups» – said Claudio Giuliano, founder and managing partner of Innogest SGR – «and Fondo Italiano d’Investimento reinforces our ability to support our companies in their growth path with adequate capital investment. We are determined to create a strong ecosystem, also actively co-investing with the most qualified players. We are tuning our areas of specialization in order to better assess business projects, to follow companies with deep domain expertise and to develop steady relationships with the best international technology investors. Along these lines, Innogest keeps growing: in 2015, Michele Novelli as partner and Richard Belluzzo as venture partner, have joined our team. We aim to strengthen our expertise and our network in those areas where innovation is designed and the funds are the best available, Europe and the US in particular».

«Investing in Innogest Capital II» said Gabriele Cappellini, CEO of Fondo Italiano d’Investimento, «is part of our strategy to support the creation in Italy of a steady and unfading venture capital market, through

Friday, September 18, 2015

GreenBone raises €3M from ZernikeMeta Ventures and Italian Angels for Growth (IAG)

Faenza, 18 September 2015 - GreenBone a medtech startup has raised €3M in a Series A funding round led ZernikeMeta Ventures, a finance company specialized in the finance for the innovation and creation of new companies, via its  Ingenium Emilia-Romagna fund,  some angels Italian Angels for Growth (IAG), the largest group of business angels in Italy active since 2007 in the development of new businesses and with the contribution of some private investors,  Italian and foreigners.

GreenBone Ortho srl, an innovative startup according to the Italia law, was founded in March 2014 in Faenza (Emilia-Romagna) and is led by Lorenzo Pradella - Co-Founder and CEO&COO. 

The company wants to become a worldwide leader for biomimetics by providing innovative
and easy to use lifelike inspired solutions that will help cure severe diseases.
GreenBone develops a highly innovative wood derived bone implants technology, to generate biomimetic – reabsorbable– load bearing implant  suitable to address severe high morbidity condition including non-union fractures, through a breakthrough technology that foresees the realization of bone implants derived from natural structures such as the wood, with extraordinary

Smart Payments: Satispay, raised €3M in Venture Funding from Existing Investors

Milan, 18 Septermber 2015 - Satispay, the italian answer to Apple Pay, is a young company specialized in the field of mobile e-payments,  that continues to increase its investments. Co-founded in 2013 by Alberto Dalmasso, Dario Brignone and Samuel Pinta, and active on the market since early this year, Satispay has managed to attract major investments in a short time not only from Italy, but also from the UK, Germany, and the Silicon Valley.  After having raised €400k in June 2013 from friends and relatives of the three foundes, as well as further €5.1M in September 2014, subscribed by institutional investors, including Iccrea Bank, the company announced today that it has received a further €3M investment, bringing the overall investment to a total of €8.5M. 

The market entry, the first positive results and the strong interest shown in the service from large international merchants convinced both the first investors, who have exercised their pre-emptive rights to subscribe for this new capital increase, as well as new partners interested in financing the project on the basis of the extremely clear and innovative vision and the great growth potential that characterize it. Indeed, successful entrepreneurs and managers like Jonathan Weiner and Ray Iglesias (founders of the project Google Wallet and Money2020), Nicola Carbonari (founder of Autoscout24), Giuseppe Donagemma (Vice President Networks of Samsung Electronics), and Iccrea Bank, signed both capital increases. The latter, i.e. the Central Institute of Cooperative Credit, provides the payment service using the Satispay technology platform serving, more than 6 million customers in Italy. Iccrea is also a center with strong technological expertise and know-how on electronic payments, which saw in the project Satispay an investment in innovation with high potential.


The goal is ambitious: to become within five years

Saturday, August 29, 2015

H-Farm eyes IPO on the AIM Italia

H-FARM, the first Italian private digital venture incubator - halfway between an incubator and a VC -, ten years after its foundation is ready to go public on AIM Italia the market of the italian stock exchange specifically created to enable small and medium-size Italian enterprises which wish to invest in their growth and have a high growth potential to access capital markets. The process kick-started with a series of financial and company moves. Beyond the international reorganization of the company structure, implemented in the last months, the Treviso-based digital platform founded by Riccardo Donadon with the goal of helping young entrepreneurs in launching their initiatives based on innovative business models in the Internet sector and to support the transformation of the Italian companies in a digital perspective, has completed two important steps. 

After launching two convertible bonds, the first of €15M (fully subscribed by existing shareholders) and the second of €4M, the startup incubator appointed the teams of consultants that will take it on AIM Italia. According to market rumors, the listing of H-Farm on the stock exchange will be by accompanied by the advisor N+1 Syz, the (nomad) nominated adviser Banca Intermobiliare and Unicredit (already shareholder of the company) as global coordinator. The listing on the Milan's stock exchange will take place in autumn. Provided that the storm that in recent days has shaken international markets do not advice to change the schedule of the IPO. The landing on the stock exchange is the completion of a process that began ten years ago and is a major milestone for a public company such as H-Farm.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Tiassisto24 raises €350k from LVenture Group

New round of funding for TiAssisto24, the app that assists in road accidents. LVenture Group participated with FIRA - Finanziaria Regionale Abruzzese - and several Business Angels in a co-investment in TiAssisto24, startup that solves all problems related to the use of cars and motorcycles, for a total of €350k.
TiAssisto24 is a platform that simplifies life to motorists helping them to save money and time and providing them with best services. The startup will receive the investment in two tranches, the first of €250k and the second of €100k. LVenture Group is committed to a total investment of 75 thousand Euros. €250k will be provided by the Finanziaria Regionale Abruzzese (FIRA), under the call "StartUp StartHope" call, dedicated to the creation and growth of innovative enterprises. The remaining amount comes instead from some business angels.
"With this investment, we will have the needed
resources to implement the business and technology roadmap - explains Michele Romagnoli, CEO of TiAssisto24 -. We want to become the first player in Italy in the independent assistance to motorists, thatnks to launch in each town of value-added services such as 'SOS fines' and the network of personal assistants."

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

LVenture launches Angel Partner Group

Network, selected investment opportunities, business education: these are the three pillars which underpin Angel Partner Group, the new association officially presented at Luiss Enlabs in front of a selected audience of more than 100 potential investors. The association was founded on initiative of LVenture Group, a holding company listed on the Italian Stock Exchange, with the aim of bringing and growing together a community of investors who believe in the social value created by innovation. Domenico Nesci - presenting for the first time the new association of which he is President - said, "APGroup has strong international vocation. We want to cross the Italian border and immediately create a network of investors globally"A network of high-level and  global reach, therefore, within whom shareholders, thanks to networking events and a digital platform, can interact fueling personal and professional relationships, sharing investment opportunities and creating new business ventures." 

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Enjore raises €500k in funding from Ligurcapital and a group of Business Angels

Enjore the free digital platform that allows to freely manage tournaments in leagues online for sports, videogames and games in a professional way, has received an equity investment from Ligurcapital Spa, the venture capital fund of the Liguria region, and from a small group of business angel, all managers of large companies with an extensive international experience. The total value of the transactions amounts to 500,000 €. The investment will allow Enjore to develop the mobile part of the platform that launched in 2013, which counts now about 70,000 registered users, 1,500 active organizers of tournaments and 300,000 monthly visits between web and mobile.  

The raised funds will be deployed to improve above all the user experience for tablets and
smartphones users and to add a number of features for the organizers who will be able to manage whole competitions directly from the playing fields. The current free version of Enjore will be complemented by a package of premium services for the most demanding organizers and of medium-large size. Moreover, the startup aims to consolidate its leadership in Italy, where it has opened a new sales office in Genoa which is added to the head office located in Capurso, in the province of Bari, and the strengthening of its presence in Northern Europe, considering that Enjore is already present in Spain, England and Bulgaria. The company is led by Nicola Taranto, founder and CEO, Luca Carollo (COO and co-founder). Advisor is Luca Colombo, country manager of Facebook Italy. 

Friday, April 24, 2015

Atooma raises €600k in funding from LVenture Group and Unicredit

Milan, 24 April 2015 - Unicredit bets on Atooma and invests €105k in the Android application that allows you to customize the functions of your smartphone by creating mini-apps without knowing any programming code. The banking institute of square Gae Aulenti, just over a year after the launch of the acceleration program UniCredit Start Lab, has made an investment of €105k part of an overall investment of €595k in partnership with LVenture Group, one of the leading institutional investors in the industry, as well as various angel investors and industrial partners.

The investment will allow the further growth of Atooma, a company founded in 2012 from an idea of ​​the current CEO Fabrizio Cialdea and which is growing rapidly . The solution proposed by Atooma is a software platform that allows companies working in the field of Smart Home, Mobile, Wearable and Automotive, to integrate on heir devices and their services an artificial intelligence, capable of activating automation and contextual tips, with the aim of providing its users with a "magical" experience.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Bravofly Acquires Map2App

BravoFly Rumbo Group N.V., the Swiss multinational operating in the electronic tourism and recently listed on the Six Swiss Exchange, present in Italy with the brand Volaregratis, has acquired the assets of Map2app, a Bologna-based startup focused in the creation of apps for touristic guides allowing customers to turn any destination into an app. 

Map2app is the easiest way to create and manage tourist guides for smartphones (iPhone and Android) and is currently used by tour operators, tourism offices, event organizers, tourist portals, publishers and web portals in over 20 countries. In 2 years, thanks to Map2app, were produced over 500 app, which have been downloaded over 1,000,000 times. The company mission is to enable even the smaller firms to promote their territory in a modern and functional way.

 Even though the financial terms of the operation were not disclosed, it is a case of "acqui-hire", or acquisition, in particular team ("talent acquisition"). The goal of the acquisition is to expand BravoFly expertise in the mobile space: indeed Map2app has developed a web-based platform that enables its customers to create mobile travel guides. It does not require any technical skill and it is designed for marketers. You just need good content, a great destination to promote (city, festival, museum… anything!) and your imagination and in few hours you can create a professional app for iPhone, Android and HTML5 devices.
 
This acquisition represents a unique