Deeptech in Italy (Jolt Capital)

Summary

• Italian deeptech companies have filed roughly 9,000+ active patents, with medium-sized companies generating over 37% of them.p.22
• Late-stage deals represented 8% of deal volume between 2010 and 2023, but accounted for approximately 50% of total capital invested over the period.p.18
• Jolt and Jolt.Ninja have screened 4% of Italian deeptech companies overall, rising to 13% of companies with IP and over 20% of those in the 75th percentile of the Jolt Patent Score.p.30

Key insights

1. Micro and small enterprises (1-30 FTEs) represent 75% of Italian deeptech companies, while medium corporations (31-250 FTEs) account for 20%.p.10
2. Late-stage investment share grew over time and accounted for more than 80% of total capital invested in recent years.p.18
3. Medium-sized deeptech companies file over 37% of patents despite making up only 20% of company headcount volume.p.22
4. In the European deeptech defense sector from 2010 to 2022, France generated 3.7x more capital raised and 3.5x more deals than Italy.p.20
5. Italy's R&D expenditure remains below 1.5% of GDP compared to an OECD average of 2.7%, while generating 2.5% of European patent applications.p.4