State of Italian VC 2023 (P101)

Summary

• Total VC funding in Italy reached $1.2B in 2023, representing a 53% YoY decrease mainly driven by a downturn in Late Stage funding.p.5
• Total M&A activity in Italy rose 47% YoY to 234 operations in 2023.p.36
• Italian university spin-offs reached a valuation of $2.1B in 2023, counting 907 spin-offs.p.44

Key insights

1. Late stage VC funding in Italy declined by 83% YoY in 2023 as no Mega+ rounds occurred.p.12
2. Lombardy accounted for 64% of total Italian VC funding between 2019 and 2023.p.18
3. Italy ranks 13th in Europe for total VC investments and 21st in per capita VC investments between 2019 and 2023.p.20
4. Funding for B2B startups increased to 82% of total VC funding in Italy in 2023, up from 54% in 2021.p.29
5. Italian VC-backed startups reaching public markets remained limited, with only 3 VC-backed IPOs in 2023.p.40
6. Venture capital funds represent 61.9% of all investor types in Italy as of 2023.p.58
7. Italian domestic investors were involved in 69% of all funding rounds in 2023.p.61
8. Startups and SMEs founded since 2010 generated $9.4B in production value and created over 61.8k jobs in 2023.p.65
9. Women hold 31.4% of roles in the Italian VC workforce, but only 14.3% of key decision-making roles.p.67