State of Italian VC 2021 (P101)

Summary

• Italian startups and scaleups raised over €5.1 billion over a 5-year period.p.3
• In 2021, total funds raised reached €2.9 billion across 534 operations, including VC rounds, equity crowdfunding, and other vehicles.p.3
• The top 20 scaleups accounted for €2.05 billion of the total funds raised in 2021.p.7
• Venture debt operations structured as securitizations reached €1.3 billion in 2021.p.10
• Equity crowdfunding platforms raised €171.9 million in 2021, up from €103 million in 2020.p.22

Key insights

1. Internationalization of the Italian VC market increased as domestic startups attracted global capital and Italian VC funds invested in foreign companies.p.4
2. Global venture capital generated a median net IRR of 25.3% for vintage 2018 funds over a 3-year period at the end of 2021.p.5
3. Heroes secured a venture debt deal of $200 million provided by New York-based private credit investor Crayhill Capital Management.p.10
4. Italian venture capital investors engaged in 36 funding rounds for foreign startups or scaleups during 2021.p.13
5. Corporate investors participated in 12 of the 36 international venture capital rounds backed by Italian capital.p.18
6. Poste Italiane realized a return of 3.5 times on its €22 million investment in Swedish fintech Tink following its sale to Visa for €1.8 billion.p.19
7. The aggregate revenue of around 10,000 innovative startups in Italy reached €1.7 billion in 2020.p.21
8. Innovative SMEs generated €5.87 billion in aggregate revenues during 2020.p.21