200 startups, 135 million invested. CDP takes stock of the national network of accelerators

All present. Managers, investors, entrepreneurs, companies. Collected in the breaks from work in small groups on the sides of the chairs arranged for the plenary session. Cdp venture capital called the main players of the Italian startup ecosystem in Milan. The opportunity was taken to take stock of the development of the company’s accelerator network. They are 18, they will reach 20 within the year. Programs that have in turn created networks, connections between venture capitalists and companies, banks and startups, institutions and giants of Italian industry. And everyone was at the Ice Palace, setting for a group photo to which the name of the event served as a caption: “One, inspiring connections”.

All around, all the pieces needed to create fertile ground for new entrepreneurship. Today they are young startups. “Tomorrow there will be big undertakings”, she said at the opening of the meeting Giovanni Gorno Tempini, president of CDP. Cassa with Cdp venture capital has taken on the task of helping these startups to become big. This first event celebrates the results. “A first step for the creation of a network destined to grow in number and depth, involving more and more companies, investors and institutions”, she added.

135 million. 200 startups accelerated out of 3000 candidates

The first event “of a long series” echoed him Frances Briapresident of the National Innovation Fund of Cdp venture: “We have received over 3,000 applications, we have accelerated the first 200 startups and the goal of accelerating 200 every year thanks also to the companies that support the network, such as Eni, Leonardo, Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit ”.

The Cdp venture initiative has so far raised resources for 135 million euros. They invest in pre-seed and seed phase startups (seed, in English, the first money needed to launch a business idea on the road to industrial production). 85 million have been approved for investments in startups, moving another 50 million from the co-investment of other venture capital funds.

Giorgetti: “The Italy of startups is not yet where it should be”

A leverage effect that has allowed the birth of something that was lacking in Italy. An industrial strategy to grow an ecosystem of innovation in a harmonious and synergistic way. As he recalled Dario Scannapieco, managing director of Cdp, at the end of the meeting: “Italy has a potential that has not yet been explored. But we are among the most advanced countries for the production of scientific research and talent”. And the goal is to make an industrial heritage part of this scientific heritage.

Applaud the political world. The Minister of Economy, Giancarlo Giorgetti, recalls that on the venture capital side “Italy is not yet where it should be”, and announces that his ministry has “promoted a legislative initiative for the competitiveness of the Italian capital market. We want to act to induce a wider range of medium-sized companies to access regulated markets”.

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Finally, recalling that “startups are in fact one of the main vehicles for the transformation and modernization processes of a mature economy such as the Italian one”. And venture capital, he recalled Adolfo Ursominister for Made in Italy, is “fundamental for the birth and growth” of startups.

Leone (Sequoia): “Artificial intelligence will change all businesses”

Then, space for interventions. To the vertical panels to talk about the network of accelerators. Disseminated throughout the Italian territory. Each one created where the entrepreneurial fabric is already ready to welcome sector innovations. Financial technologies in Milan. The Motor Valley in Modena. Technologies for the environment with Eni. And so to get to the accelerators that deal with food, education, computer security. The companies to be placed on the market are created in there. From that network the companies that then enter the network of 180 investors, companies and partners of the group.

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At the end of each intervention a few seconds of electronic bit of the Chemical Brothers give to the next one. The present is celebrated. It looks to the future. The CEO of CDP Venture, Enrico Reminiinterview Doug Leone, partner of Sequoia Capital, one of the most important venture capital funds in the world (among the first investors of Apple, Airbnb and Stripe). “The next big frontier innovation is artificial intelligence,” said the investor.

“When I saw what Chat Gpt could do I said: my god, this will change everything, the world itself is bound to change. Great opportunities will open up for companies. Every business will change”. A phrase that sounds like a warning. Italy started late in many of the frontiers of innovation. Maybe the vision was missing. The connections. Ingredients that are there today.