Foreign Capital Boosts Italian Startups

Italy’s digital economy is experiencing a huge boost in revenue thanks to a donation of €5m to Invitalia Ventures from the U.S. Cisco Investments.

With a plethora of tech startup companies lacking financial resources to gain momentum, Cisco’s donation is part of a broader €100m plan to boost Italy’s digital economy. While foreign capital is helping boost the tech ecosystem, startup companies in Italy are lacking financial momentum. This lack of momentum is causing the nation’s technology economy and startups to fall behind its financial counterparts.

Last year Italian startups raised less than €100m in venture capital, compared to Spain who raised nearly six times the amount. Venture capital is one of the key players in allowing growth in the tech community.

The donation from Cisco brings about change for the startup ecosystem, as well as Apple’s launch of a new training center in Naples for app developers. All these signs point to foreign investors catching on to Italy’s growing startup companies, but Italy still lacks venture capital.

What Italian startup companies lack however are the investors to back them. This comes as a shock due to the fact that there are an abundance of Italian investors to help boost the tech ecosystem. However, the issue lies in the fact that investors are choosing to put their money elsewhere. Venture capital is a language Italian investors aren’t ready to speak.

For now foreign capital is creating big steps forward for Italy and its startup community.

-Ashley Curtis