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Venture Capital Report - Italy Q3 2026 (Growth Capital)

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ReportGrowth CapitalJanuary 202662 pages93 min readOriginal source
Key number
€1,477 M
Total raised in Italy 2026 YTD p.7
Largest segment
€512 M
Top Sector by Amount Invested in Italy 2026 YTD p.31
What changed
-31%
Italian Deal Count 2026 YTD vs 2025 YTD p.20

Summary

  • Italian VC startups raised €653M across 56 rounds in Q3-26, supported by 2 mega rounds.p.6
  • In 2026 YTD, Italian VC funding reached €1,477M across 210 rounds, featuring 3 mega rounds.p.7
  • European VC funding reached €68B across 7,312 rounds in 2026 YTD, compared to €444B raised in the US.p.10
  • UK startups secured €25.0B in 2026 YTD, retaining its position as Europe's top ecosystem.p.15
  • French VC funding reached €10.6B in 2026 YTD, driven by Mistral AI's €3B round.p.16
  • In 2026 YTD, 11 new Italian VC funds raised a total of €283M.p.38

Key insights

  1. Italian VC round sizes hit record highs in 2026 YTD, with a mean of €7.0M and a median of €2.0M.p.19
  2. Q3-26 recorded 56 deal rounds in Italy, making it the lowest quarterly deal count on record.p.20
  3. Early-stage deal count in Italy fell by 42% YoY in 2026 YTD, while Series B+ rounds nearly doubled to 18.p.23
  4. AI-related software companies represented 77% of all Software sector rounds in Italy in 2026 YTD.p.29
  5. Exein raised the largest single round in Italy in 2026 YTD with €234M in Series D.p.33
  6. CleanTech funding in the US reached €46B in 2026 YTD, accounting for a 10% share of total US VC funding.p.43
  7. CDP Venture Capital directly invested ~€165M across 97 companies in the CleanTech sector.p.49
  8. Defense tech investment in Europe reached €6.3B in 2026 YTD, nearly tripling vs 2025.p.53

Published by Growth Capital (funder profile)

Funders mentioned

4BIO Capital5AM VenturesAcurio VenturesAltorAndera PartnersAngelini VenturesBaillie GiffordBase10 PartnersBpifranceCDP Venture Capital

Topics and entities

EuropeFranceGlobalUKAI in financeClimate and impact investmentDeep tech investmentIPOs and listingsM&A and exitsPrivate marketsStartup ecosystemsStartup fundingVenture capitalAngelini IndustriesBending SpoonsCDP Venture CapitalEuropean Investment BankExeinGrowth CapitalIndex VenturesItalian Tech AllianceMistral AINewcleoPitchBook

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