Naturbeads, a UK-based startup developing cellulose microbeads, raised a £7.8m round led by Eos Advisory and participated by Progress Tech Transfer, CDP VC, PI-NB, and Paragon Capital Management. LIFTT joined a €12m round in Berlin-based medtech startup Mediaire. CDP VC invested in Rubedo Life Sciences, a US-based startup that raised a Series A round back in April. Rubedo announced the opening of an operating branch in Italy. Cloudsome, a devops-as-a-service startup, raised €700k and nominated a new CEO. Forte!, a music-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €320k from 40Jemz Ventures, B4i Fund and AFP Capital. CubeLabs 🇮🇹announced the launch of a new spinoff, Lipovexa. The Techshop 🇮🇹announced the final closing of its first fund, Techshop Primo, at €53m.

Satispay, a payment-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €60m in a round participated by existing investors Addition, Greyhound Capital, and Lightrock. Restorative Neurotechnologies, a startup developing solutions for cognitive rehabilitation, 🇮🇹raised €4m in a round led by Fondazione Enea Tech and Biomedical, and participated by CDP VC, IAG, Mm Partecipazioni. Octostar, an Irish-Italian cybersecurity startup, raised €2m from Cysero. Flyted, a drones startup, raised €1m from Clubdeal Digital. Syllog AI disclosed the amount of the pre-seed round announced back in September: €500k. Take Mi Home 🇮🇹raised €500k from Terme di Saturnia. Servati, the maker of 3D printed, recyclable shoes, 🇮🇹raised €350k.

Resalis Therapeutics raised an undisclosed amount from Sanofi. Tau Group raised €1.5m from MiTo Tech Ventures in a Series B extension. Nuvola Zero, a foodtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.4m from Azimut and crowdfunding investors. Waxy, a clean tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.35m from CDP VC, Granarolo, and Sud Speed Up. Movenzia, a mobility startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from Finint Investments and business angels.

xFarm Technologies raised €36m in a round led by Partech, with Mouro Capital and existing investors Swisscom Ventures and United Ventures participating. AIKO, a space-tech startup, raised €3.5m from Deep Blue Ventures and Primo Ventures. WithLess, a software management startup, raised €3m in a seed round led by Primo Ventures and participated by Apside, Zest, B-Heroes, and other angel investors. Composite Research, an innovative materials startup, raised €1m from LIFTT. WembraneX, a startup developing a solution for water purification, 🇮🇹raised 350k from Progress Tech Transfer fund. Lymphatica Medtech, a Swiss-based medtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €17.9m in a Series B round participated by Panakes Partners, TechWald Holding, CDP VC, and other investors.

Lifeed, an edtech startup, 🇮🇹raised 3.5m from CDP VC, Opes Italia Sicaf Euveca, SEFEA Impact SGR, and Impact Ventures. Foreverland, a food-tech startup, raised €3.4m in a syndicated round that included Exor, 2100 Ventures, Moonstone, Grey Silo Ventures, and others. INVENTIO, the developer of an AI solution for industrial environments, 🇮🇹raised €555k in a preseed round participated by Club degli Investitori, CDP VC, Plug and Play. Vado, an automatic delivery startup, 🇮🇹raised €444k from Startup Wise Guys and various business angels. Shootify, an AI-for-fashion-ecommerce startup, 🇮🇹raised €300k from Magic Mind. TrueLayer extended its Series E raising an additional USD$ 50m in funding. Newcleo 🇮🇹raised €135m.

D-Orbit, a spacetech company, 🇮🇹announced the completion of the Series C from December 2023. The company raised a total of €150m in the round.Genespire, a biotech company, raised €46.6m in a round co-led by Sofinnova Partners, XGEN Venture and CDP Venture Capital forming a strong syndicate with Indaco SGR.JetHR, a HR-tech startup, raised €12m in a round led by Picus Capital. Existing investors Exor, IFF, and 2100 participated in the round, alongside notable business angels.Kleecks, a martech startup, 🇮🇹raised €6.5m in a round co-led by Blacksheep and Axon.Vitesy, a consumer hardware startup focusing on food waste, raised €4m from CDP VC and Mediaset.Mela Works, an ERP for the construction industry, 🇮🇹raised €2.4m from CDP VC and Terna Forward.TrueScreen, a cybersecurity startup, raised €2.4m from Cysero.Aptadir Therapeutics, a biotech startup, raised $1.6m in pre-seed funding from EXTEND.Data Masters, an AI-focused tech academy, 🇮🇹raised €1.15m in a round led by Primo Ventures and participated by Zanichelli Venture and business angels.Xbooks, a cryptotax startup, raised €1m from Primo Ventures.Mapo Tapo, a traveltech startup, raised €1.15m in debt and equity from Zest, VeniSia, business angels, and others.Sestre, a woman’s wellness startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from TerraNext and the Fund for Female Entrepreneurship run by the Italian Ministry of Industry.Raffaele Terrone’s new startup, UK-based Desia, raised $3.3m in a pre-seed round led by Dig Ventures.ZCube 🇮🇹led a CAD$2m round in Canada-based Hyivy Health, a femtech startup.Mito Tech Ventures, a new fund focused on net-zero transition, announced its first closing at €55m.Kyip Capital 🇮🇹announced Kyip Impact Mission, a new PE impact fund, with a first closing of €30m.The Lazio region 🇮🇹announced a new investment program in direct and fund-of-funds investments for a total of €75m.

BizAway, a traveltech company, raised €35m from Mayfair Equity Partners. Hlpy, a roadside assistance startup, 🇮🇹raised €18m in a round led by Nextalia SGR and Alkemia Capital, with previous investors The Techshop, CDP VC, and Simest joining the round. Ephos, a startup developing glass-based photonic circuits for quantum computing, raised $8.5m in a round led by Starlight. Young Platform, a crypto exchange, 🇮🇹raised €2.65m from Azimut. BHICA, a nutraceuticals startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from business angels. Forte! and Contents.com raised undisclosed rounds. LIFTT led a GBP 2.5m round in UK-based Evolaris. Magicblock, a US-based but Italian-founded crypto startup, raised $3m in a pre-seed round led by A16Z. Neva SGR announced two new funds, Neva II and Neva II Italia, aiming to raise €500m in total. Fabrizio Capobianco announced Liquid Factory, a venture incubator. NextStep, NextEnergy Group’s VC fund, doubled its capital to €6.4m. TeamSystem acquired Distrito K. Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, Università Bocconi, ION and FSI established the Tech Europe Foundation. According to the announcement, there will be a €100 million fund to invest in start-ups based in its premises.

Intrauma, a developer of orthopedic medical devices, raised €10m from FITEC II.Renewcast, a renewable energy forecasting startup, raised €2m from CDP VC and South Western Power Group.Treeblock, a corporate sustainability startup, 🇮🇹raised €500k from business angels.Syllog.ai, am AI-powered corporate learning startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount from 40jemz and Techaround VC.Dronus, a drones startup, raised an undisclosed amount from Eni Next, a corporate VC.Speaking of Eni Next, they co-led a $30m investment in Mantel, a Boston-based carbon capture startup.Novameat, a Barcelona-based foodtech startup co-founded by 🇮🇹Giuseppe Scionti, raised a €17.4M oversubscribed Series A round led by Sofinnova Partners and Forbion.Panakes Partners co-led a €44m series B round in CorFlow Therapeutics AG.The EIB and LIFTT agreed to create a new investment vehicle, where they will invest €50m each, focused on Italian companies operating in sectors including life sciences, cybersecurity, deeptech, cleantech.Una Terra 🇮🇹launched a new investment fund raising a target of €200m. CDP VC and Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco are among the first subscribers.CDP launched Maritime Ventures, a new venture builder in collaboration with Cariplo Factory, focused on nautical and port logistics tech.

SkillVue, an AI-based HR-tech startup, raised €2.5m in a round led by Italian Founders Fund and 14peaks.Involve Space, a space-tech startup, raised €2.5m in a round led by Earlybird.IdentifAi, a Milan-based startup developing a technology to identify AI fakes, raised €2.2m in a round led by United Ventures.Pelomatto, a home grooming service for four-legged friends, 🇮🇹raised €430k in an angel round.Events.com to go public on NYSE through Business Combination with Concord Acquisition Corp. II.Vection Technologies acquired The Digital Box in an all-shares transaction valueing the latter AUD$12m.Oakley-backed 7NXT acquired online fitness platform Buddyfit.

Wise, a neuro technology startup, raised €25m in debt and equity in a round led by Wallaby. The EIB provided the debt facility. Rotonium, a quantum-tech startup, raised €1m from CDP VC and Obloo. Spiagge.it, a travel-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from CDP VC. Syrto.ai, a company intelligence startup, 🇮🇹raised €580k from a syndicate of investors including Zest. Alps Blockchain, a bitcoin-mining and energy startup, 🇮🇹raised €105m in a bond from a club-deal syndicated by Azimut. VC Partners SGR S.p.A. – Gestore EuVECA 🇮🇹announced the first closing of its VC Partners Fund I, at €65m. Bending Spoons announced the acquisition of WeTransfer. Altea Federation acquired OOBE-XR.

HBI, a cleantech startup focusing on industrial waste, 🇮🇹raised €15m in a round led by CDP VC through its Green Transition Fund.CyLock, a cybersecurity startup, raised €0.5m in a round led by Scientifica VC.Ohoskin, a sustainable textiles startup, 🇮🇹raised €300k in a round led by Motor Valley Accelerator.Atlas SGR announced the first closing of Atlas PMI Destinazione Futuro and Atlas AI Fund I.Contents announced the acquisition of 4w marketplace.Mondadori 🇮🇹acquired a controlling stake in Waimea, aiming to build the second biggest social media operator in the food&cooking space.

Cubbit, a distributed enterprise storage startup, raised $12.5m in a round led by ETF Partners and LocalGlobe, with participation from existing and new investors including Primo Ventures, CDP VC, 2100, Azimut, Growth Engine, and Moonstone. Subbyx 🇮🇹came out of stealth with a €5.5m pre-seed round. Illuminem, a data-for-sustainability startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m from Techstars, Blackwood Venture, Fortino Capital, Genesis Venture, and other investors. Fluid Wire Robotics, a startup developing robotic arms for hostile environments, raised €0.8m from RoboIT, Scientifica VC, and Pariter Partners. While I was offline, we had quite a few other rounds announced: LimoLane (€35m), HUI (€25m), Exein (€15m), BionIT Labs (€5.5m), Wopta (€4.1m), 🇮🇹Rent2Cash (€3m), 🇮🇹Starting Finance (€1.5m), 🇮🇹Newarc (€0.8m) Vaire Computing, a reversible computing startup, raised $4.5m in a round led by 7percent Ventures. Brembo Ventures 🇮🇹invested in US-based Spoke Safety. Nextalia announced the final closing of its €150m VC fund. Primo Ventures announced its new climate-tech fund, with a €40m first closing. Rancilio Cube announced a second international VC fund-of-funds with an allocation of €50m. Bending Spoons acquired Issuu. Mavriq 🇮🇹acquired Switcho at a €20m valuation. Contents acquired Zulla. Cosmico 🇮🇹acquired a majority stake in Flatmates. Qaplà 🇮🇹acquired Transactionale. What does the perfect seed round look like? [Adam Shuaib] Conio and Mesh teamed-up to 🇮🇹launch the first bitcoin-based open banking platform in Europe [Blockchain4innovation]. How to go from Seed to Series A to Series B funding [Medium]. Status of Italian Life Sciences VC [Pierpaolo Padula]. Satispay to 🇮🇹expand into offering investment products [Forbes]. D-Orbit launched a new US-based joint venture [SpaceNews]. Neva SGR invested in Bio4dreams, a startup incubator. An 🇮🇹interview with Alessandra Mazzilli [StartupItalia]. Coatue’s EMW 2024 conference presentation on the state of the markets [Coatue]. The State of Enterprise Tech [Insight Partners]. The valzer of the fundraising numbers for H1 2024 has begun: Growth Capital / ITA, VeM.

Muffin, a fintech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.2m from a syndicate of business angels. Recornea, a medtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €150k in a round led by Scientifica Venture Capital.PhotonPath announced an undisclosed round. Axelera AI, a Netherlands-based AI-chip design company led by Fabrizio Del Maffeo, raised $68m. CDP VC also participated in the round.Terna Forward invested in Spain-based Unusuals. Yolo Group acquired Kalibo Correduria de Seguros. Unguess acquired Ferpection. TeamSystem 🇮🇹acquired Change Capital. TXT Group acquired I MILLE and Uasabi. GeneralFinance acquired Workinvoice.

Avaneidi, a cybersecurity startup, announced an €8m Series A funding round from United Ventures. Brandplane, an AI-driven marketing startup, 🇮🇹raised 460k from StyleIT, CDP VC, and business angels. Recuperiamo, a circular economy startup, 🇮🇹raised 460k from SICI Sgr, Impact Hub, XEquity Venture Club, and other business angels. Hubique, a proptech startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount from Apside. Spill, a ready-to-drink-cocktails startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed round from Vesper Holdings and other business angels. Talking about ready-to-drink cocktails… Also Mixum, another startup in the market, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed round from Avvio Capital, Archimede Capital Partners, and other investors. Soplaya, a foodtech startup, 🇮🇹raised a new undisclosed round from Linfa, Finint Investments, and Kostanza Investments. Exor Ventures co-led a $8m Series A round in UK-based Sava. London / Milan / New York-based Xtribe agreed to go public through a business combination with WinVer Acquisition Corp. Spain-based NOBA Ventures joins the GELLIFY Innovation Factory. DGS S.p.A. acquired Ariadne Group.

iGenius, a GenAI startup, announced the goal to raise €650m in funding. The round is open, but Angel Capital Management and Eurizon Asset Management have already invested. The premoney is +€1Bn: finally, Italy has its GenAI unicorn.Aidexa, a fintech bank, 🇮🇹raised €16m.Cube Labs, a publicly listed, life science-focused venture incubator, 🇮🇹announced a new share issue to raise up to €5m in fresh capital.Almanax.ai, a crypto security startup, raised a pre-seed round from Defy.vc (amount undisclosed).CDP VC 🇮🇹invested USD 11m in Nozomi Networks, joining the company’s USD 100m Series E.Exor Ventures invested in Paris-based Zeliq, and in US-based Viaduct.Welcome to the Italian Founders Fund, a new €50m fund backed by Italian entrepreneurs.Riello Investimenti launched Linfa, an agrifood-tech fund with an initial commitment of €45m, and a €100m target.JOIN Capital officially announced the opening of its Italian office.Also, welcome to Kili Ventures, a pre-seed and seed fund aimed at African innovators.Intesi Group 🇮🇹acquired a minority stake in Verbalizza.com

BetaGlue, a clinical-stage radiotherapy company, raised €8m in a round led by Neva SGR, with participation from LIFTT and FinPosillipo. Sibill, a treasury management startup, announced a €6.2m round from Keen Venture Partners, Exor Ventures, and Founders. Talet-E, a startup offering a kit to electrify scooters, 🇮🇹raised €2.6m (€1.7m in debt, €0.9m in equity from RA.MO.CAR, a family office). Prem AI, a Switzerland-based AI startup, raised $14m in a seed round featuring several high-profile business angels and entrepreneurs. Accenture closed the acquisition of Customer Management IT and SirfinPA. iGenius introduced Italia, its First Open Foundational Italian LLM. 250 European Data Infrastructure startups and what we learned from them | MMC. InSilicoTrials won the prize of startup of the year for AI at the Startup Grind Global 2024. A navigator of Italian developer salaries, by role and seniority, by DataPizza. Unruly VC released a full dashboard of their investments. Bold move, and possibly the first I have ever seen.

Revolv.space, a space tech startup, raised €2.6m from Primo Space and Takeoff. Zefi.ai, a SaaS for collecting user feedback, raised €1.6m from 360 Capital, 14Peaks Capital, B-Heroes, BIT, Secways, Aticco Ventures, Growth Engine, Vento and Halo. Micthera, a biotech startup, raised €1m from Indaco Venture Partners. IAG and Italians in VC partners invested in XTRA, a digital health startup based in USA. Rialto Ventures announced reaching €55m in capital raised. The fund has already completed 8 investments to date. A2A and 360 Capital 🇮🇹announced 360 Life II, a €200m climate-tech fund aimed at European startups. CDP VC announced VentureItaly II, its second fund of funds aimed at venture capital operators. According to the announcement, the FoF has a €500m target and has already received €475m from the Italian Ministry for Economic Development and CDP Equity. Since the first installment of the fund attracted 3X the capital deployed, we can hope this fund will mobilize €1-1.5b in additional capital for Italian startups.

Futura, a Milan-based edtech startup, raised a €14m series A round from Eurazeo, United Ventures (already an investor), and Axon Partners Group. Loquis, a travel podcasting startup, raised €3.78m from P101, Innova Venture, PiCampus, and CDP VC. Checksig, a crypto custody and trading startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.7m from undisclosed investors. J4ENERGY, a climate-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from RoboIT, Tech4Planet, and Pariter Robotics. Domethics, a proptech startup, 🇮🇹raised €725k from CDP VC. Wishew, a UK-based social network, 🇮🇹raised €10m from LMDV Capital. NextUp 🇮🇹acquired Sweet Lilium → investment vehicles merging, a new quick way to enhance portfolio diversification? ;-) JAKALA announced the acquisition of France-based ClaraVista. Maticmind 🇮🇹acquired GDMS-Italy.

Cryptosmart, a crypto exchange, 🇮🇹raised €3.5m and announced the acquisition of IBX AG, a bitcoin mining company. BOEM, a startup launching a low-alcohol drink, 🇮🇹raised €3m from LMDV Capital, an existing shareholder. Lithium Lasers, a deep-tech startup specializing in femto-lasers, raised €2m from Primo Space and 360CP. Primo Space also invested €1.1m in Ecosmic, a space-tech startup. Qlhype, a second-hand clothes startup, 🇮🇹raised €700k from business angels. Drinkme, a B2B wine and spirits startup, 🇮🇹raised €580k in a crowdfunding campaign. Neva SGR 🇮🇹joined a $100m Series D in Coro, an Israeli cybersecurity company. xFarm Technologies merged with Greenfield and Spacesense to hone its Geospatial AI. Edflex, a French edtech startup, acquired OfCourseMe.

Cosmico, a talent-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €4m from Prana Ventures, 40Jemz, Intesa Sanpaolo, and business angels. LIFTT joined the $26m round raised by Evergreen Theragnostics, a life sciences startup. CDP Venture Capital launched Frontech Accelerator, with Algorand and Microsoft as technical partners Visma acquired Fiscozen: exit for United Ventures and Keen Venture Partners. The first quarter has concluded, and we now have the initial assessments of the Italian startup landscape, as detailed in the VeM report and the Venture Capital Report by Growth Capital / ITA.

Tes Pharma, a biotech company, 🇮🇹raised €10m from XGen Venture. FidoCommercialista, a tax-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.2m from 40Jemz Ventures, X-Equity Venture Club, i3Charter, Alecla7, and Vesper. Kilogram, a food-tech and wellness startup, 🇮🇹raised 150k from Archangel AdVenture. Proxima Fusion, a nuclear fusion startup based in Germany, raised €20m. The startup is a spin-out of the Max Planck Institute and is led by Italian founders. Oops, they did it again: Bending Spoons announced the acquisition of StreamYard Top Corp (a.k.a. Hopin). Impresoft 🇮🇹acquired Ribes Solutions. Cloud Care 🇮🇹acquired Crea.re Digital. OpStart 🇮🇹acquired a majority stake in BackToWork. Almaviva 🇮🇹acquired Magna Sistemas Consultoria Sa.

BookRepublic, a digital e-book library, raised €1.5m from Mondadori, with a commitment for an additional €1.5m investment in 2025. They two will launch Narae, a joint venture focused on webnovels. NExT, a modular electric vehicles startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.25m from Cysero. Amalia Care, a health-care startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from Personae (a CDP-powered accelerator), A|Impact, Social Fare, and business angels.

Casavo 🇮🇹raised so far €19.5m out of the €30m in convertible debt as it executes its turnaround plan. Nouscom raised an additional €7m into its Series C round (see TWIS #178) from Angelini Ventures. AION Tech, an API orchestration startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.3m from AATECH SPA SB. StepsConnect, a recruiting-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from a syndicate of investors including 40Jemz Ventures, Eden Ventures, Moonstone Fund, Moffu Labs, and others. Keplero AI, an AI assistant for customer service startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k in a round led by 40Jemz Ventures. Id.Eight, a sustainable sneaker startup, 🇮🇹raised €350k from A|Impact.

Wesii, a company deploying drones to monitor critical infrastructure, 🇮🇹raised €2.8m from Terna Forward and DXT Commodities sa.Cynomys, a Precision Livestock Farming startup, raised €2.1m in a seed round participated by Farming Future, dsm-firmerich Venturing, Levante Capital, SVG Ventures, Plus9, in addition to previous investors.TalentWare, a talent management startup, raised €800k in a pre-seed round led by 360cap.Nozomi Networks, an OT and IOT security company, raised $100m from Mitsubishi Electric and Schneider Electric, among others.

Kurbs Orbital, a space-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.7m in a round led by Otb Ventures, joined by Credo Ventures, Galaxia, In-Q-Tel, and Inovo.This Unique, startup offering environmentally sustainable menstrual pads, 🇮🇹raised €0.5m in a bridge round by Ulixes Capital Partners, Moonstone, and Longevity Life Holdings.WAO, a proptech startup, 🇮🇹raised €0.8m in a preseed round from OneDay and business angels.CityZ, a smart parking startup, 🇮🇹raised €0.5m from 40Jemz and Magic Spectrum.Bud power, a food for sports startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount at a €6m pre-money.Bending Spoons is considering a potential acquisition of Vimeo Inc.Italian Artisan 🇮🇹acquired Ad Hoc Atelier and raised €750k from Primo Ventures.Zucchetti 🇮🇹acquired a stake in EsgMax and 🇮🇹Qualitando.Scaglia Indeva 🇮🇹acquired a majority stake in SysDesign (exit for Cysero).NetResults acquired Awhy.

Akuis, a fitness-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.15m from ALIcrowd III (Azimut), Wemoove, and X-Equity (a club deal). The Italian government 🇮🇹approved a new allocation worth €150m to support investments in AI, 5g, and cybersecurity. H-Farm received a tender offer to be taken 🇮🇹private. One of the eldest of the Italian startup ecosystem reports is finally out: VEM 2023 A 78-page-strong report on the Italian VC landscape by P101 + Dealroom.

Medical Microinstruments, a medtech company, raised USD 110m in a series C round led by Fidelity Management & Research.3D Nextech, a digital manufacturing startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.5m in a round led by EUREKA! Venture.CaSRevolution, a life sciences startup developing a therapy for Alzheimer's, 🇮🇹raised €1.3m in a crowdfunding round.Superfluid, an Ethereum-based token streaming protocol, raised $5.1m in a round led by Fabric Ventures.Jakala 🇮🇹acquired GotU.Shopfully acquired Ofertia.Reevo acquired Itnet.Everli was actually 🇮🇹taken over by Salvatore Palella, through a €21m capital increase.

Gabriele Venturi is founder of PandasAI, a Python library that adds Generative AI capabilities to pandas, the popular data analysis and manipulation tool. In this conversation, we dive deep into various topics related to AI, including the impact of AI on data analysis, the democratization of data analysis, the role of open source vs. closed source in AI, and the business model and sustainability of open source AI. We explore the future of AI interaction and interfaces, the impact of AI on jobs, and the defensibility of AI companies. Additionally, we discuss the future of machine learning professionals and the advancements in copilot technology. [The episode was recorded in October 2023] Takeaways - AI is transforming data analysis by democratizing access to data and providing new ways to interact with and analyze data. - Open source AI is becoming increasingly popular and is challenging closed source AI by providing more customization and flexibility. - The future of AI interfaces will likely involve a combination of conversational and structured data interactions. - AI has the potential to disrupt certain jobs, but it also creates new job opportunities and enhances productivity in other areas. - The defensibility of AI companies lies in building meaningful products and focusing on customer needs rather than just relying on the technology itself. - The future of machine learning professionals will involve a deeper understanding of AI technology, including the ability to build models from scratch and ensure explainability and determinism. - AI copilots have the potential to greatly enhance productivity and assist in various tasks, but their effectiveness will depend on integration and context-specific applications. - The future of AI will involve advancements in explainability and determinism, addressing the black box nature of AI models and ensuring consistent and coherent outputs. Language models can have biases and preferences towards certain options, which can be a challenge to address. - Unlearning and removing data from AI models is an emerging area of research, with applications in correcting incorrect training data and removing biases.

Daze, a startup developing smart chargers for electric vehicles, 🇮🇹raised €15m in a Series A round led by CDP VC, with the participation of EIC Fund, Founders Future, and Prana Ventures. GuidoIo, an edtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €700k from 360Cp, Growth Engine, and Vesper Holding. Cloov, a fashion-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k in a seed round. Bending Spoons confirmed the $155m funding round raised from Durable Capital Partners LP and existing investors Baillie Gifford, Cox Enterprises, NB Renaissance, NUO Capital, and StarTIP. The company reported a $2.55 billion post-money valuation. Cosmico acquired Bioss.

Sealence, a startup developing sustainable and innovative solutions for the marine industry, raised €7.5m in equity, debt, and grants.Underscore District, a fashion brands accelerator, 🇮🇹raised €4m in a round led by Kairos Ventures ESG One.Addax Biosciences, a biotech startup, raised €2.5m from Fintech Partners.Voidless, a packaging technology startup, raised €2.2m from CDP VC and 360cp.Okapi, a green-tech startup, raised €1m from Digital Magics and Innova Venture.Collecto, a luxury goods crowdfunding startup, 🇮🇹raised €750k in an angel round.Develop-players, an educative gaming startup, 🇮🇹raised €600k from Opes Italia, 20 Fund, and Privilège Ventures.Sense4med, a medtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €510k from Scientifica Venture Capital and Innova Venture.Dafne, a sexual wellness startup, 🇮🇹raised 250k in a pre-seed round participated by Lifegate, Over Ventures, and Open Seed.Paperbox Health, a startup addressing learning disorders in kids, raised €230k in a bridge round by VITA Accelerator.Sella Venture Partners SGR 🇮🇹announced its second fund of funds dedicated to investing in international VC funds.

Tau Group, an energy transition startup, raised €11m in Series B extension funding led by CDP Venture Capital and Santander Alternative Investments.Ventive, a consulting and investment firm for startups , 🇮🇹raised €2.4m from a syndicate of investors.Sikuro, a building site security startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m in a crowdfunding round led by Fleap Holding Spa and Azimut.Renewcast, an energy forecasting startup for wind energy, 🇮🇹raised €850k in a round led by Helen Ventures and Tech4Planet.Glutensens and VisioNing 🇮🇹raised €204k and €184k from Farming Future and ToSeed&Partners.Bending Spoons 🇮🇹announced it is preparing to raise a €200m round.1 I was impressed by their 2023 EBITDA reported in the article: €200m!Panakès Partners led a €30,4m round in Enterprise Therapeutics.Angelini Ventures 🇮🇹invested €8m in Noctrix Health Inc. and COUR Pharmaceuticals.Neophore raised an additional $12.2m in its Series B round from Neva SGR, LIFTT, and Simon Fiduciaria.CDP VC’s fund-of-funds arm invested in Seroba Fund IV, a €123m life sciences fund.Zucchetti 🇮🇹acquired a majority stake in Awms.Safilo 🇮🇹acquired a minority stake in Spaarkly.Poké House 🇮🇹acquired Poké House Belgium.SECO was accepted into the Qualcomm IoT Accelerator Program.Opyn 🇮🇹is expanding its BNPL service for businesses to Europe, UK, and Switzerland.🇮🇹15 startups incubated by the Startup Builder to keep an eye on.The Italian “Gazzetta Ufficiale” (the primary source of legal information and the official vehicle for the publication of new laws, decrees, regulations, and other acts of the Italian government) was released as a data set on HuggingFace. Will LLMs manage to understand the intricacies of our legal system?A ✍🏻 survey about the culture of growth in Italian startups: if you are a founder of an Italian startup with a couple of minutes to spare, 🇮🇹click here.Scalapay 🇮🇹appointed Andrea Fumagalli as country manager for Italy.More than 100 businesses 🇮🇹adopted JetHR since its launch.📈Yes, it is cricket: Italy gives the go-ahead to insect flour for human use.EU agrees new rules to cut the cost of listing companies.The 2024 State of Quantum.

K-Sport World, a sport-tech startup, raised €5m in a round led by Rialto VC. Axyon AI, an AI fintech company, raised €3.9m in a round led by US-based VC firm Montage Ventures and accompanied by The Techshop SGR, alongside other angel investors. Doorway, a crowdfunding platform, 🇮🇹raised €1.76m in fresh capital from CDP VC, Angels4Women, and other business angels. Jampy, a startup developing products for pet wellness, raised €1m in a pre-seed round led by 360cp, alongside other business angels. Volta Structural Energy, an energy storage startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from Tech4Planet and Leonardo SpA. Cellex, a medtech startup, 🇮🇹raised €830k from Innova Venture and business angels. Weforguest, a travel-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €500k in a pre-seed round from CDP VC, LVenture, and other investors. On top of that, the startup received €480k in debt instruments. Playtomic 🇮🇹acquired Sportclubby. Xenon Private Equity Small Cap 🇮🇹acquired a controlling stake in Kettydo+, Hic Mobile, and UrbiStat. LLMs are finally speaking Italian! Two open-source models fine-tuned in the Italian language have been recently released: LLaMAntino, released by a team from the University of Bari, is a fine-tuned version of LLaMa 2 (here is the paper, and of course, the models are available on HuggingFace in the 7b and 13b variants). Zefiro is an LLM model fine-tuned to the Italian language based on Mistral 7b. The models are available on HuggingFace, on the author’s page. But we have higher aspirations: Cineca and iGenius (an AI startup) 🇮🇹announced a partnership to create Modello Italia, a foundational LLM built from scratch. Will it stand against the big, deep-pocketed foundational LLM behemoths?

FTNet, a sales-tech startup in the pharma sector, 🇮🇹raised €3m from angel investors. SPiN, a space-tech startup, raised €1.64m from Galaxia, ScientificaVC, and Lazio Innova, 1Control, a smart access startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from CDP VC and Azimut Alicrowd II. Lexroom.ai, an AI-for-law startup, 🇮🇹raised €500k from business angels. Ticketoo, a secondary ticketing startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from Digital Magics, Lazio Innova, and business angels. Deeva, a beauty-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from Mamazen and business angels. Lendit, a B2B credit-sharing startup, raised an undisclosed amount from dpixel in a natively tokenized fundraise. Seed Venture was the platform enabling the deal. Panakes Partners joined Sofinnova Partners and other investors in the €20m seed round raised by DISCO Pharmaceuticals, a biotech startup. Stellantis Ventures joined the €22m round raised by Tiamat, a French sodium-ions batteries startup. TXT e-Solutions acquired 51% of Arcan, a startup developing solutions for software technical debt. Winelivery 🇮🇹acquired Become Somm.

D-Orbit confirmed the closing of the €100m announced back in November 2023 (seed issue #177). Marubeni led, with Avantgarde, CDP VC, United Ventures, Primo Ventures, Neva SGR, Indaco Venture Partners, and Seraphim Space Investment Trust following. Contents.com, an AI-based content generation platform, raised USD$18m in a Series B round led by Alkemia Capital and Thomson Reuters Venture. SQIM, a biotech startup, raised €11m in a round led by CDP VC, with participation from ECBF VC, Kering Ventures, and Progress Tech Transfer. Indigo.ai, an AI-first startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.5m from its controlling shareholder Vedrai. Your Personal Trainer, a sports-tech startup, raised 723k from CDP VC and Lazio Innova. Fedrigoni Group invested in Sharpend, an IoT startup. Neosperience Health, controlled by Neosperience, raised 1m and plans to go public on the Nasdaq. Bending Spoons acquired Meetup. Bending Spoons also acquired Mosaic Apps (for allegedly more than $100m).🤯 L’Orto di Jack, a fresh groceries company, 🇮🇹acquired Ristoking (and is preparing to raise €10m). LuisaViaRoma announced the acquisition of Holding It. Almawave 🇮🇹acquired Mabrian Technologies.

Resalis Therapeutics, a biotech startup, announced a €10m round led by Sunstone Life Science Ventures with participation from existing investors.Vitesy, a green-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €3.2m from Doorway and business angels.Algor Education, an AI startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.4m from Emerge Education, Club degli Investitori, 40Jemz Ventures, and Gustaf Nordbäck.OhmSpace, a space-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.2m in a round led by Scientifica Venture Capital, with Innova Venture and Galaxia joining the round.Mbility, a mobility startup, 🇮🇹raised €1m from FNM.Excellis, an investment holding, 🇮🇹announced its second capital increase (and 10 investments).IH1, an investment holding, 🇮🇹reached €5m in capital raised.

Unobravo, a mental health and wellbeing startup, raised an undisclosed growth round from Northzone, with the participation of H14. CDP 🇮🇹sold its stake in the startup, exiting its 2020 seed investment. Smartpricing, a revenue management software for hotels, raised €11m in equity and €2m in credit lines in a round led by Partech (through its new fund Partech Ventures, also invested by CDP). Techshop, Azimut, and the founders of Bending Spoons participated in the round. CAEmate, an Alto Adige-based digital twin startup, 🇮🇹has secured €3m in a post-seed funding round. The round was led by CDP Venture Capital and 360 Capital, with contributions from private investors Marco Carlini and Matti Kuivalainen. nCore, a HR-tech startup, raised €2m from Vertis. Eureka! invested in two PoC projects from CNR and the University of Bologna, Reflex and Proxy. Amount undisclosed. Indaco Venture Partners and Angelini joined a $38m investment in Freya Biosciences, a biotech company specializing in women's health, led by Sofinnova Partners and OMX Ventures.

This episode features Tommaso Migliore, CEO of MDOTM Ltd. We cover a range of topics in AI including the impact of AI and Machine Learning in investment management and asset management, the rise of large language models like GPT-4, the democratization of AI and Machine Learning, and the differences between analytical and generative AI. It also delves into the evolution of AI in finance, challenges and future trends in AI adoption in financial sectors, and specific case studies demonstrating AI applications in institutional investment processes. The discussion provides insights into how AI technologies are transforming investment strategies and decision-making. MDOTM Website: https://www.mdotm.ai/ Tommaso Migliore on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommaso-m... - Subscribe to the channel for weekly updates. Niccolò's newsletter: http://dealflowit.niccolosanarico.com/ Listen to all episodes on audio: Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3fVynsQ Google Podcast: https://bit.ly/3thf9RC Apple Podcast: https://apple.co/3Elhykq

Milan-based company WeRoad has secured €18m in a Series B funding round to revolutionize group adventure travel for millennials. H14 led the funding. Banxware, a German fintech that offers embedded lending solutions, has announced a new Series A funding round of €15m. UniCredit, Fabrick, and existing investors such as 13books Capital, VR Ventures, D4 Ventures, and Force over Mass participated in the investment. Soplaya, an Italian start-up that operates as a digital wholesaler for restaurants, 🇮🇹closed a funding round of €12.5m. The round was led by Sinergia Venture Fund (Alkemia Capital), including previous investors P101, Azimut, Cdp Venture Capital (through Italia Venture I fund), and Intesa San Paolo. Keyless, a British startup specializing in biometric authentication technology, has secured $6m in a funding round led by Rialto Ventures. Sendabox, an online logistics platform based in Milan, raised €5.25m in Series A funding. The round included an equity portion of approximately €4.2m from Italmondo and Supernova Hub and new financing lines totaling €1.05m from Banca Intesa Sanpaolo and Banca Centropadana. Winelivery 🇮🇹raised €1.5m out of a €3.5m SAFE. Gellify and Xequity, among others, joined the round. RISE Technology, an innovative high-tech company specializing in manufacturing machines and production lines for photovoltaic cells and modules, semiconductors, and biomedicine, has raised a seed round of €1.5m. The funding was led by Tech4Planet, with participation from Progress Tech Transfer, an investment fund launched by MITO Technology.

Aptus.AI, a Pisa-based reg-tech startup, raised €3m in a pre-Series A funding round led by Programma 103, an investment fund managed by P101 Sgr. The round also saw participation from business angels and Fin+Tech, the accelerator of CDP Venture Capital.Digital Magics 🇮🇹is preparing to launch Step Ventures (paywall).Walliance acquired Lymo, France's first crowdfunding platform.TestBusters 🇮🇹acquired UniAdmissions, a UK-based company offering test and admission preparation to Oxford and Cambridge.Dealroom’s ranking of VC investors in EMEA.Italian Tech Alliance’s 🇮🇹report on the performance of equity crowdfunding in Italy.Qomodo 🇮🇹announced a partnership with Mastercard.Chatwin and Over Ventures 🇮🇹teamed up to support startups raising capital.Banca Valsabbina, Azimut, Fleap, and Integrae Sim 🇮🇹announced Fleap Holding, an investment vehicle aiming at investing in startups across Europe and raising capital through quasi-equity instruments (🇮🇹SFP, in Italy) fully tokenized on the blockchain.

Nouscom, a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company, raised €67.5 million ($72 million) in an oversubscribed Series C financing round. The funding was led by Andera Partners, Bpifrance, and M Ventures, with participation from Revelation Partners, Indaco Venture Partners, Panakès Partners, XGen Ventures, and other undisclosed investors. Planet Farms, an Italian company specializing in controlled environment agriculture, 🇮🇹raised $40m in funding. Xnext, an Italian startup developing X-ray inspection technologies, 🇮🇹raised a venture debt loan of €20m from the European Investment Bank (EIB). Nextsense, an innovative SME of the P&P Patents and Technologies group, raised €3m in a financing round by Angelini Ventures. CarpeCarbon, an Italian startup focusing on CO2 removal from the atmosphere, 🇮🇹raised a pre-seed funding round of €1.765m. The round was led by Tech4Planet and 360 Capital. ReLearn, a Turin-based startup specializing in waste management, 🇮🇹raised a funding round of €1m. The investment was led by Cdp Venture Capital sgr, along with participation from LA4G - Luiss Alumni 4 Growth, Club degli Investitori, LVenture Group, Feel Venture, and Sensible Capital.

D-Orbit, a space-tech startup, raised over €100m in Series C funding, with Marubeni Corporation as the lead investor. Qomodo, a Milan, Italy-based provider of payment solutions to physical retailers, raised €34.5m in Pre-Seed funding. The investment includes equity and a credit line. ShippyPro, a shipping platform for commerce, raised $15m in a Series B round from Five Elms Capital. Dreamfarm, a vegan mozzarella producer, raised €5m in a Pre-Seed round from business angels. Equixly, an AI-driven cybersecurity startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.5m in a seed funding round led by 360 Capital, with participation from Nana Bianca and Stephen De Vries, co-founder and CEO of IriusRisk. SoundSafe Care, a spin-off of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna di Pisa, 🇮🇹raised €1.75m in a funding round led by RoboIT. Other investors include Fondo Toscana Next and Pariter Robotics srl. Exor joined a $15m in PhaseV, an Israeli startup. Entropica Labs, a quantum computing startup, raised $4.7m in Series A from LIFTT and other investors. Ooodles, a UK-based company, raised $12m in funding led by Paris-based asset manager, Smart Lenders Asset Management (SLAM). Yellow, a new VC firm from Glovo founders and Atomico investor, is betting on Southern Europe. Holding 14, Luigi Berlusconi’s investment holding, 🇮🇹launched Annapurna, a VC investment vehicle focused on Italy and abroad.

MotorK, an automotive SaaS platform, raised a €5m debt facility from Atempo Growth. D-Orbit, 3Bee, and Nano-Tech are the three Italian startups to receive funding from the EIC Accelerator. Spesati, an e-groceries startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed round of funding from Abbi Group and other investors. 2100 Ventures, a €30m investment vehicle by the Benetton family, was officially unveiled. [Post-email addition] - Generali announced Generali Ventures, a €250m direct + indirect fund, focused on insurtech and fintech startups. The fund has already invested in three top-tier European VC operators: Mundi Ventures, Speedinvest, and Dawn.

Wsense, a submarine connectivity startup, raised €9m from SWEN’s Blue Ocean and CDP Venture Capital SGR among others.Out Of, a sports glasses startup, 🇮🇹raised €7.6m in a crowdfunding round, participated among others by Azimut and Ferrari.NextAI, a conversational AI startup, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed seed round from Digital Magics and Smart4Tech S.p.A.Cubbit signed a distribution agreement with Exclusive Networks for data security across Europe.Navigating the LLMops landscape: What you need to know.An 🇮🇹interview with Luigi Tommasini, senior partner at FII SGR SpA.

Aindo, a synthetic data startup, raised a $6m series A in a round led by United Ventures and participated by existing investor Vertis SGR. (note: the linked article includes the deck Aindo used to pitch the round.)Qapla', a Florence-based scaleup that develops solutions for e-commerce management, 🇮🇹raised €5m in a Series A round. The funding was led by BlackSheep, with participation from CDP VC's Acceleratori fund and Toscana Next.ClubDeal, a private investment platform, 🇮🇹raised €1.5m in a round led by CDP VC.Arca Dynamics, a startup in the Space Economy, 🇮🇹raised €1.2m for the future of space debris. Investors include Cdp VC, Fondazione Crt, UniCredit, Plug and Play, and Ogr Torino.Tuorlo Magazine, a food-media startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.1m from business angels.Pack, a HR-tech platform, 🇮🇹raised a pre-seed round of €500k. The round was supported by Italian and international investors, including PRAXI Spa, Techstars LLC through Techstars Partners 2021, Ad Maiora Srl, C360, and Happily Welfare srl.Fantix, an NYC-based AI model development startup, raised $1.6m in funding. Investors include Gaingels, Notion Capital, Founders Factory, Fastweb, Connect Ventures, IAG, and B Heroes.

Soul-K, a food-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €20,5m in equity (€13m) and debt (€7.5m) from CDP Venture Capital, LIFTT, Azimut, Simest and existing investors (Innogest, Tan food, Levante Capital SIS). BancaTer acted as the debt provider.BonusX, a startup helping customers receive tax and other bonuses, 🇮🇹raised €3.2m from Giant Ventures, Exceptional Ventures, 2100 Ventures, and business angels.Zakeke, a Visual AI commerce startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a SAFE round led by Berrier Capital.ViteSicure, an insuretech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m in a bridge round from existing investors (CDP VC, Reale Mutua, Apside).Inta Systems, a lab-on-chip startup, 🇮🇹raised €2m from Eureka! Venture, LIFTT, and Deep Ocean Capital.Hoopygang, an influencer marketing startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.25m from CDP VC and Nana Bianca.Bug’s Life, a startup producing insect-based proteins, 🇮🇹raised €552k from Sici and Business Angels.Gevi, a clean energy startup, raised €400k in a pre-seed round participated by 360CP and CDP.Data Masters, an AI-focused edutech startup, raised an additional €200k in its seed round from Primo Ventures, for a total raise of €950k to date.Banca Valsabbina 🇮🇹acquired a 15% stake in ID Defend. The amount invested is undisclosed.Barcelona-based Workfully raised €1.2m.P101 🇮🇹acquired a 24% stake in CityNews, in a secondary transaction.360CP, Indaco and United Ventures 🇮🇹raised €40m in aggregate from Lombardia Ventures, a fund-of-funds initiative from the Lombardia region.

The Circle, an agritech startup, 🇮🇹raised €2.1m from Opes Italia and Sparviero Holding.Hercle, a Milan-based trading startup in the crypto world, 🇮🇹raised €1.7m in a seed investment round. The funding was led by Prana Ventures and Kairos Partners Sgr, with participation from business angels.Test1, a cleantech startup, 🇮🇹raised €1.7m from LIFTT, a|impact – Avanzi Etica sicaf, Selected Investments and Faros.eWibe, a premium wine-trading startup, 🇮🇹raised €450k from business angels, bringing its total pre-seed round to €700k.Astradyne, a space-tech startup, 🇮🇹raised €400k from Galaxia and Obloo.Habyt, a flexible housing startup, raised €40m in a Series C round led by Korelya Capital and Deutsche Invest.Vaultik, a crypto startup, raised $2.5 million in funding from The Operating Group.Hypeal, a Netherlands-based digital assets startup, raised €188k in a pre-seed round.

Sidereus Space Dynamics, a company based in Salerno, Italy, raised €5.1m in Seed+ funding. The funding round was led by Primo Space and CDP Venture Capital Sgr, via the Italia Venture II – Fondo Imprese Sud fund.Evja, an agritech startup, 🇮🇹raised €4.2m in a pre-Series A round. The funding was led by CDP Venture Capital sgr through Italia Venture II and SEFEA Impact sgr.Cellply, a life sciences startup, raised €3.6m from Recomec, LIFTT, and Schia Ventures.BeSafe Group 🇮🇹closed a Series A round of €3m, led by PranaVentures and Azimut Libera Impresa, on behalf of the Azimut Digitech Fund. The round also included CDP Venture Capital SGR and strategic business angels.PandasAI raised $1.1m in a Pre-Seed round, with funding from Runa Capital, London-based Episode1, and Vento, the Italian arm of Exor Ventures.Inflead, an influencer marketing intelligence platform, 🇮🇹raised €1m from Blacksheep.Enovis to buy surgical implants maker LimaCorporate for €800m.Jakala acquired Roibox.ToolsGroup 🇮🇹acquired Evo.

Shop Circle, an e-commerce software startup based in London, has successfully secured $120m in Series A funding through a combination of debt and equity. The funding was raised from 645 Ventures, NFX, QED, and 3VC. 🇮🇹A syndicate of Italian investors including CDP VC, The Techshop, BlackSheep Ventures, and Primo Ventures joined the round. Finally, I80 Group provided the debt facility.Arduino, the maker of an open-source electronics platform, raised an additional $22m in its Series B round, with CDP Venture Capital and Anzu Partners being the main investors.Avio invested €2.5m in T4i, a spin-off of the University of Padua that specializes in innovative propulsion systems.QuantaBrain, a start-up focused on improving the diagnosis of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders using AI algorithms, 🇮🇹raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Scientifica Venture Capital.