In the first three months of 2022, Venture Capital funds invested 420 million in Italian companies for a total of 54 funding rounds, with a growth in invested capital of 35% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
These are the excellent data that emerge on the sector from the report of the quarterly Observatory on Venture Capital in Italy, created by Cross Border Growth Capital in collaboration with Italian Tech Alliance, the Italian association of Venture Capital, innovative startups and SMEs.
All the numbers of Venture Capital
The analysis also highlights how the first quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2021 (with 547 million) exceeded the corresponding quarters in the previous five years. In particular, the first three months of 2022 recorded the second best result in the last five years, with 2 deals exceeding 50 million (ScalaPay and Moneyfarm) and an average amount raised of 7.8 million euros. Without taking into account capital raised in the form of debt, total investments amounted to 420 million euros, up 35% compared to the first quarter of 2021.
"After a 2021 that represented a record year for the Italian VC, which with over 260 deals closed and more than 1.2 billion euros invested had exceeded the billion euro funding threshold for the first time, the numbers for the first quarter of 2022 tell us that Italy is continuing the growth of the entire sector," explained Francesco Cerruti, General Manager of Italian Tech Alliance.
In addition to Scalapay and Moneyfarm, other substantial investment rounds concern Planet Farms (Series A, 30 million), Everli (Series C, 22 million), Kither Biotech (Series B, 18.5 million).
Growing interest in Series A and B rounds
As regards the type of rounds, Series B (with 228.7 million) weighs on the total invested for a share of 54%, "a figure that, however, is strongly influenced by ScalaPay's mega round (equal to almost half of the total collected in the quarter)", reads the study. In terms of number of rounds, after stabilizing around 10 from 2018 to 2020, Series Bs hit 19 in 2021.
While they have raised less than Series Bs, Series As make up the true core of the total invested due to a more even distribution across rounds. In the first quarter of 2022, approximately €73 million was raised (+13% compared to the same period in 2021). There was also a considerable increase in the average and median size: the former almost doubled the 2021 figures, touching 8.6 million; the latter grew almost 3 times, reaching 8 million. Finally, Seed rounds are the most represented type (32 deals), with an average size of just over 1 million euros.
Sector analysis. Fintech is flying
Deepening the analysis by sectors, Fintech takes the lead with 253.5 million raised in Q1 2022 in 9 rounds. Italian Fintech confirms the trend of closing rounds of significant size, in line with other European markets.
In second place is Food and Agriculture (53.5 million in 4 rounds), followed by Life Sciences (47.5 million in 7 rounds). Investments in these three macro-sectors weigh in at nearly 85% of the rounds in the quarter.