Eureka Technology Transfer raises €51m, increases target to €70m

Alessia Argentieri
28 May 2021

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Italian venture capital house Eureka Venture has held a €51m interim close for its Eureka Fund I – Technology Transfer, exceeding its initial target.

The VC house has also increased the fund's hard-cap from €60m to €70m.

Eureka Fund I – Technology Transfer was launched in January 2020 with a €50m target and held a €38m first close in July 2020. It is managed by a team led by CEO Stefano Peroncini and composed of directors Anna Amati, Salvatore Majorana and Massimo Gentili.

Bird & Bird, Oxygy Consulting and MJ Hudson-Alma advised Eureka on the fund structuring.

"Our strategy focuses on one of the most advanced and promising segments of the deep-tech industry – the science and engineering of innovative materials – and on the great opportunities offered by the technology transfer process," Stefano Peroncini, CEO of Eureka Venture, told Unquote. "This approach has attracted the interest of numerous private and public institutional investors, in a global climate that has become increasingly more open to the wide array of high-quality ideas and opportunities flourishing across the deep-tech industry."

Investors
New investors in this interim close include Italian state-backed fund-of-funds manager CDP Venture Capital, via its €275m Technology Transfer Fund.

The anchor investors in the fund the European Investment Fund and Italian state-owned CDP (via its Itatech platform). Its LP base also includes Compagnia di San Paolo, advanced materials specialist SAES Group and aerospace company Umbra Group, as well as several high-net-worth individuals.

The fund expects to attract several additional institutional investors and corporate investors in the coming months.

Investments
Eureka Fund I – Technology Transfer invests in seed and series-A rounds, targeting companies operating in the "deep-tech" industry (companies founded upon substantial scientific advances and high-tech engineering innovation), primarily focused on the discovery and production of advanced materials.

The vehicle deploys tickets ranging from €200,000 for proof-of-concept startups, to €3-4m, and will lead or co-lead funding rounds alongside other Italian and European venture capital funds.

The fund intends to sign several partnerships with science- and technology-focused universities, including 21Università, Centri di Ricerca Scientifica del Paese, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia and Politecnico di Torino.

The fund has made four investments so far: nanotech specialist Inta Systems; polymer-based integrated circuits producer Fleep Technologies; meta-materials expert Phononic Vibes; and Wise, which designs electrodes for intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring.

People
Eureka Venture – Stefano Peroncini (CEO).