Primo Digital Fund launches with €80m target

The fund expects to hold a first close and start its investment period after the summer.

"We have already received positive feedback from some of our previous investors and expect to hold a fast and smooth fundraising in the coming months," Primo Ventures president Gianluca Dettori told Unquote. "In addition to our core investor base, which is historically composed of institutional investors, we also expect an increasing number of family offices and high-net-worth individuals to join our fund's LP base this year."

Primo Ventures is the new name of Primomiglio, an Italian venture capital house active since 2016, which recently rebranded.

The firm is currently managing Barcamper Ventures, a €45m vehicle that is almost fully deployed. The fund made a new investment this week, leading a €1.5m round for PharmaPrime, a Rome-based startup that provides a platform for the purchase and delivery of a wide variety of medications and pharmaceutical products.

The VC told Unquote that Barcamper is close to inking another deal in the US and that it plans to make at least two additional transactions before closing its investment period by the summer.

Notable investments made by Barcamper include Cortilia, Cubbit, Codemotion and Brandon, which raised aggregate funds of around €50m last year.

In addition, Primo is investing Primo Space Fund, an €80m vehicle dedicated to space technology; the vehicle held a €58m first close in July 2020. 

Primo Space Fund deploys equity tickets of €100,000-6m in seed investments, series-A and series-B rounds, and targets both upstream and downstream startups across the aerospace industry. It invests in companies involved in the provision of technology for space infrastructure, as well as businesses working on aerospace data, earth observation and satellite communications.

Investors
Primo Digital expects to build a wide LP base composed of Italian and international institutional investors, family offices and high-net-worth individuals.

In the past, Primo's investor base has included CDP Ventures, the European Investment Fund, Fondo Italiano Investimento, Lazio Innova, Compagnia di Sanpaolo, Banca Sella, Confindustria Area Centro, Fondazione di Sardegna, Fondazione Carisbo, Fondazione Puglia, Gruppo Reale Mutua, HDI Assicurazioni, as well as several family offices. The VC expects most of its investors to re-up to this new vehicle.

Dettori told Unquote: "The coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown have accelerated an important shift towards the digital economy that has affected the attitude and mentality of both consumers and investors. A fund like Primo Digital, entirely dedicated to the most advanced and innovative sectors of our economy, is set to attract the interest of a wide base of investors. This is the best time to fuel the digital development of our startup ecosystem and we expect a wide array of attractive opportunities to arise across Italy, Europe and the US in the coming months, especially in booming segments such as e-commerce, cybersecurity and blockchain."

Investments
Primo Digital will invest in seed and early-stage rounds, usually as lead and sometimes as co-lead investor, deploying tickets of €500,000-2m. It will also finance follow-on rounds of up to €5m to support the expansion of its portfolio companies in the entire lifecycle of its investments.

"We specialise in boosting the expansion of a startup from the seed-stage phase to its late-stage and growth rounds, with the aim of fuelling its development and scaling up its business," Dettori said.

The fund intends to make a total of 25 deals, with a special focus on companies operating across the e-commerce, software, cybersecurity, fintech and blockchain sectors.

The vehicle will invest around 80% of its capital in Italy, and the remaining 20% in the rest of Europe and the US, primarily in co-investments with international venture capital funds.

Dettori told Unquote: "We intend to further broaden our relationships with international players across the venture capital ecosystem, to provide our portfolio companies with a wide network of contacts, expertise and capital that will enable them to rapidly and effectively scale up in the international markets."

People
Primo Ventures – Gianluca Dettori (president); Antonio Concolino (CEO).

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