Italian fundraising slumps – Aifi

Just six players raised funds in the first half of the year. A whopping 93% of LPs that were active in H1 2013 are based in Italy – a proportion that has grown consistently since 2009, when they accounted for 68% of committed capital.

Individual investors contributed 25.1% of all commitments, while funds-of-funds accounted for 19.3% of capital raised.

More than half of all funds raised in the first half of the year will go towards early-stage investments in Italy – a marked change in direction for a private equity industry usually associated with buyouts. Italian VC investor Innogest held a first close of Innogest Capital II at around €50m in April 2013. The vehicle will back local SMEs in the ICT, digital and medical devices sector.

Q3 2013 was home to five early-stage transactions in Italy – the highest amount per quarter across the five-year sample, according to unquote" data. Notable transactions included a €1.1m round for online grocery discount aggregator Affaredelgiorno.it and a capital injection of around $6m into mobile payments systems provider Jusp.

Also of interest to the local start-up scene was the launch of Programma 101, a VC initiative launched with the support of Fondo Italiano di Investimento. The initiative includes a €50m fund that will make investments of €250,000-4m in Italian start-ups in the digital sector.

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• Topics
• Southern Europe
• Fundraising
• Italy