Positive numbers for the Italian venture capital market which, in 2024, reached an overall collection of €1,127 million, exceeding one billion euros for the fourth consecutive year. This value marks a growth of 7.5% compared to the previous year, with an increase of +11.0% in number of rounds, with 292 operations (vs. 263 in 2023). The average collection ticket remained stable at around €3.9m, confirming continuity compared to 2023. These results demonstrate a sign of stability in the Italian market, considering the widespread slowdown in investments observed at a European level.
Italian Venture Capital, market exceeds the billion mark
Despite this moderate growth of resources allocated to innovative companies, the Italian venture capital market is struggling to undertake an accelerated growth path and is still limited in size, with investments representing only 0.06% of GDP compared to 0.20% in Germany, 0.26% of France and 0.12% of Spain. This is what emerges from the EY Venture Capital Barometer, EY’s annual study, which analyzes the performance of investment rounds in Italian startups and scaleups.
Investments per capita in Europe
In Italy, investments per capita remain stable with €19 spent per inhabitant compared to €18 in 2023. Consistent with the general trend of investments in the country, the data on per capita investment also reflects a similar trend. In 2024, there will be a contraction of 18% in the United Kingdom and 6% in France, highlighting a slowdown in the economies that are traditionally more dynamic in this area. On the contrary, Germany marks an improvement of 11%, confirming a greater resilience of its ecosystem, while Spain stands out with a significant growth of 22%.
Distribution of investments on a regional basis
At a geographical level, the Northern Italy confirms its leadership, with €857m investeddriven by Lombardy with the great rounds on the podium such as Bending Spoons, Satispay, D-Orbit, Genespire. Central Italy also surprises, with €227m invested, with the important investment in MMI in Tuscany. Lazio and Piedmont maintain a central position: Lazio thanks to the city of Rome, while Piedmont stands out with operations on Tau Group (€11m), Resalis Therapeutics (€10m) and Intrauma (€10m). Followed by Friuli-Venezia Giulia which recorded €41m thanks to the Bizaway round (€35m). In the South, €43m of investments were recorded, with Abruzzo’s performance of €27m, led by HUI, while Puglia recorded €12m thanks to the rounds of Bionit Labs and Autoconnexa. However, the overall performance of the South remains limited overall.
The main operations of the year in Italy
The 2024 saw several investment roundsor significant in the panorama of Italian startups, highlighting investors’ interest in strategic sectors such as technology, fintech, biotechnology and aerospace. Among the main rounds of the year stand out Bending Spoons, which raised €143m in the first half of the year, consolidating itself as a leader in the development of mobile applications, and Medical Microinstruments (MMI), which closed a €101m round. In the second half of the year, the most significant rounds were those of Satispay (€60m), a leading fintech for digital payments; D-Orbit (€50m), specializing in space logistics and services for the aerospace industry; and Genespire (€46.6m), a leading company in innovative gene therapies. In addition to these, other notable rounds include: xFarm Technologies (€36m), which operates in the agritech sector; Limolane and BizAway, both with €35m; HUI (€25m) and Cyber Guru (€23m).
The top five sectors by investment value
Topping the list among the top five sectors by investment value – representing approximately 70% of total investments in 2024 – there is the Health & Life Science sector, with 47 deals concluded and €242m invested, thanks above all to the operations of MMI and Genespire. In second place we find the Software & Digital Services sector for €171m, driven by the Bending Spoons operation, while third place on the podium is occupied by the Technology & IoT sector for €151m, driven by the HUI and Cyber Guru operations. In fourth place we find the Fintech sector (€113m) with the operations of Satispay and Cardo AI, and in fifth place Energy&Recycling (€72m) with the operations of Daze and HBI.
