2024 turns out to be a positive year for the Venture Capital in Italy thanks to an increase in investments and deals concluded in the first quarter. According to the Observatory created by Growth Capitalthe leading investment bank in the Venture Capital ecosystem, in collaboration with Italian Tech Alliancethe Italian association representing the sector, were 443 million euros invested in the first quarter of 2024 versus 389 in the fourth quarter of 2023. I investment round they went from 88 to 108, marking a new record in Italy.
What is venture capital
Venture Capital is a investment medium-long term in risk capital of unlisted companies in the start-up phasecharacterized by a high development potential, carried out mainly by institutional investors with the aim of obtaining a substantial capital gain from the sale of the acquired shareholding or from the listing on the stock exchange.
When it comes to rounds of Series A, B, C financing, etc., we are referring to a collection of risk capital that takes place in different stages of growth. After the affirmation phases of the business project (pre-seed, seed and early stage)the startup begins the actual growth and commercial development phase, which can be divided as follows:
- Early Growth (Series A and Series B rounds);
- Sustained Growth (Round Series C, D, etc.).
The European and Italian scenario
In Europein the first quarter, were raised 12 billion euros in 2,404 rounds, on the historic low of the fourth quarter of 2023, while the amount invested was the lowest since the pandemic period (second quarter of 2020).
In Italyinvestments in Venture Capital started with a positive sign, with 443 million euros raised in 108 rounds. For the first time the number of rounds in the quarter exceeded 100, while the collection of the first quarter of 2024 is the fifth quarter of continuous growth and the best quarter ever, even if 55% of the invested is attributable to two mega round.
Aboutthe top 5 dealsat the head we find Bending Spoons (144 million) e MMI (101 million) followed by Everli (21 million) e Contents (16 million). There is also the round of Casavo the amount of which, however, was not made public.
The exit instead they went from 8 in the fourth quarter of 2023 to 12 of the first quarter of 2024.
Type of round
Looking at the segmentation of the rounds by type, it is noted that in the first quarter of 2024 the Pre-seed and Seed represented the 68% of total roundsmainly thanks to the investment activity of accelerators.
It should also be noted that the rounds Series C+they represented 57% of the collection overall, while the rounds of A league have raised 67 million euros in 13 rounds, in line with the trend of 2023, while the B series they raised 27 million euros in 2 rounds.
Analysis by sectors
Unlike in the past, there was a fairly even distribution of rounds across sectors in the first quarter. The Smart Cities it is the sector that has totaled the highest number of rounds (14), followed by Software, Lifestyle, Life Sciences and Food & Agricultureand, all at 13.
The Software it is instead the one that attracted the greatest number of investments (154 million), followed by Life Sciences (139 million) and Smart City (39 million). Excluding mega rounds, Smart City would be the first sector in terms of amount. The vertical AI saw the most rounds, while App stood out for the capital raised, especially thanks to the mega round of Bending Spoons.
