Italy….ah Italy. The land of Dante, Leonardo, Cinque Terre, over 50 Unesco world heritage sites...the list goes on. It may surprise you that Italy also has a flourishing startup ecosystem. According to data from the Ministry for Economic Development, in April 2022, there were more than 12,000 startups in the country. These startups collectively employed 70,000 people and generated €1.4 billion in revenue.
With so many exciting startups to keep an eye on, we thought we’d help you narrow the field with our curated list of the hottest startups in Italy. Below, you’ll find 36 fast-growing businesses across a broad range of sectors.
How we shortlisted the entries
Given the large number of startups in Italy, many companies were eyeing a spot on this list. However, as we hope to give you a glimpse of early-stage companies that are likely to be industry leaders tomorrow, we compiled this list using the following criteria:
- The startup has raised funding from external investors, from Seed through Series B.
- The startup employs less than 250 people.
- The startup operates in a large market with wide scope for expansion and innovation.
- The startup is at the cusp of a large breakout.
Let's find out who made the list!
Hot Italian Startups
1. Coreview
Founded in 2014, CoreView is a SaaS platform enabling its customers to manage their Office 365 accounts using features that enhance security, ease reporting and monitoring, and improve their overall operational efficiency. The company successfully secured Series B funding in October 2020 from New York-based Insight Partners. CoreView has raised a total of $30M so far.
Founders: David Mascarella, Ivan Fioravanti
Location: Milan, Italy
2. Young Platform
Young Platform is a cryptocurrency exchange allowing its customers to trade cryptocurrencies with fiat money. The company targets a young generation of investors as it intends to simplify access to the world of cryptocurrencies. Founded in 2018, the company raised €3.5M in Series A funding in June 2021.
Founders: Andrea Carollo, Andrea Ferrero, Daniele Rinaldi, Marco Ciarmoli, Samuele Raimondo, Stefan A. Gheban
Location: Turin, Italy
3. Fresco Frigo
Fresco Frigo started with the idea of building intelligent vending machines to sell fresh food to people on the go. It’s now gone on to become a smart refrigerator helping people stock fresh and healthy products. During the pandemic, Fresco Frigo adopted the concept of a ‘condo supermarket’ and started serving customers in various apartment complexes. Founded in 2017, Fresco Frigo received €1.8M in its second round of funding in January 2021.
Founders: Enrico Pandian, Tommaso Magnani
Location: Milan, Italy
4. Credimi
Founded in 2015, Credimi is a FinTech start-up that provides digital lending and factoring solutions to businesses. The company focuses on making business finance more accessible to smaller companies in Italy. It was one of the first market players to promote transactions that free up liquidity for SMEs whose businesses had been impacted by the pandemic. The company received funding of €22M in November 2018.
Founders: Edmondo Porcu, Francesca Todeschini, Gianmarco Molinari, Ignazio Rocco di Torrepadula, Jacopo Anselmi, Roberto Arnetoli, Sabino Costanza
Location: Milan, Italy
5. MatiPay
Founded in 2019, MatiPay works on the model of transforming any vending machine into a smart device with the help of IoT. This innovative payment system connects the vending machine and the smartphone app with a virtual wallet. This wallet is rechargeable via cash dispensers, credit cards, or PayPal, providing a frictionless end-to-end user experience. The company has raised €7M so far.
Founders: Alessandro Monterosso, Filip Ivancic, Kumara Palanivel, Daniele Farro
Location: Padova, Italy
6. Neosurance
Founded in 2016, Neosurance is an InsurTech company that provides insurance companies with a SaaS platform to gain insights on potential customers, profile them, and achieve higher sales conversions. These insights focus on the sale of micro-policies through push notifications on smartphones. It uses machine learning and IoT data to learn and suggest insurance products at the right time to end customers. The company raised €1.1M in a funding round in April 2020.
Founders: Andrea Silvello, Dario Melpignano
Location: Milan, Italy
7. PatchAi
PatchAi is a digital HealthTech start-up that champions patient engagement. The app assists patients in completing study tasks, reporting clinical events, and collecting data. Its web platform allows clinicians and sponsors to monitor this data and improve the patient experience. All of this takes place via real-time data collection. The company raised €1.7M in its Seed round in January 2021.
Founders: Roberto Nicastro, Federico Sforza
Location: Milan, Italy
8. Deliveristo
Deliveristo is a cloud-based platform that connects restaurant owners to various food suppliers. The company eliminates logistics and warehouse costs by adopting a dropshipping approach. It helps in efficient inventory management by avoiding the constraints and requirements of different product categories. Founded in 2017, Deliveristo secured €4.5M in Series A funding in December 2020.
Founders: Ivan Aimo, Luca Calia, Gabriele Angeleri
Location: Milan, Italy
9. UALA
Uala is a mobile-based platform that caters to the online booking of all types of beauty services such as manicures, pedicures, haircuts, and massages at various salons. Uala’s business model focuses on partnering with beauty salons throughout Italy, making it a hassle-free one-stop solution for the end-users of salon services. The company was founded in 2015 and received €15M in Series B funding in June 2019.
Founders: Alessandro Bruzzi, Enzo Li Volti, Luca Mattivi, Luca Tironi
Location: Milan, Italy
10. BacktoWork
BacktoWork is an equity-based crowdfunding platform for SMEs, start-ups, and real estate projects. It lets users invest in various sectors in exchange for shares in those companies. Additionally, the company offers campaign management, analysis, and marketing to its users. BacktoWork raised an undisclosed Series A funding round from Neva Finventures in June 2019.
Founders: Alberto Bassi, Dario Lo Giudice, Elisa Bancala, Fabio Bancala
Location: Milan, Italy
11. Prima Assicurazioni
Prima Assicurazioni is an app-based platform that helps users compare and purchase automobile insurance. The company offers quotes for cars, motorbikes, and vans, assisting users in choosing the best-priced insurance policy. Prima.it helps with claims in case of accidents. Backed by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing and Blackstone Group’s Tactical Opportunities, it has raised €115M so far.
Founders: Alberto Genovese, George Ottathycal, Teodoro D'Ambrosio
Location: Milan, Italy
12. Sweetguest
Sweetguest is a PropTech company that manages short and medium-term rentals, allowing property owners to earn more and property seekers to find a perfect place for their short to medium duration stay. The business model focuses on providing flexible property along with painless renting services. The company was founded in 2016 and received a Series A funding of $9M in May 2019.
Founders: Edoardo Grattirola, Rocco Lomazzi
Location: Milan, Italy
13. Chef in Camicia
Chef in Camicia is an Italian web channel dedicated to the food and drinks industry. It broadcasts shows, videos, and images related to food all over the world. It targets a mix of food enthusiasts and health-conscious people. Founded in 2015, the company raised €1.2M in its Series A funding round in September 2019.
Founders: Andrea Navone, Luca Palomba, Nicolò Zambello
Location: Milan, Italy
14. Brumbrum
Founded in 2016, Brumbrum is an e-commerce platform for pre-owned cars. Its business model involves purchasing used cars, repairing them, and selling them to end-users. Additionally, the company offers a service called “Car-as-a-Service,” which works like a leasing agreement with benefits like financing and maintenance services. The company raised $23M in a Series B funding round in February 2019.
Founder: Francesco Banfi
Location: Milan, Italy
15. BOOM imagestudio
BOOM imagestudio is an artificial intelligence-driven on-demand photography service, combining human abilities with the power of technology. The company has a team of global professional photographers in place. It helps companies increase their online sales with the help of an automated end-to-end platform to manage their visual assets. Founded in 2018, BOOM raised $7M in its Series A funding round in a bid to become the “Amazon for Commercial Photography.”
Founders: Federico Mattia Dolci, Giacomo Grattirola, Jacopo Benedetti
Location: Milan, Italy
16. Freeda Media
Founded in 2017, Freeda Media is a female-oriented media start-up that targets Gen Z and millennial women. It publishes success stories of women from all backgrounds with an aim to celebrate women’s achievements and inspire positive change through women’s sisterhood. The company raised $16M in Series B funding in September 2019.
Founders: Andrea Scotti Calderini, Gianluigi Casole
Location: Milan, Italy
17. ProntoPro
ProntoPro is an online portal that connects customers to professionals. The platform gives its users easy access to professionals such as caterers, photographers, florists, musicians, tutors, fitness coaches, etc. The startup was founded in 2015 after its founders had trouble reaching out to professionals while organising their wedding. ProntoPro received Series B funding of €7M in March 2020.
Founders: Marco Ogliengo, Silvia Wang
Location: Milan, Italy
18. xFarm
xFarm is an AgriTech start-up that operates on cloud-based management software and field IoT sensors, promoting the concept of digital farming. It helps farmers track activities, analyse their data, monitor crops, and get recommendations while utilising integrated precision farming to enhance efficiency. It works with partners across various data streams: weather, irrigation, harvesting, and more. The company’s platform is compatible with more than 30 varieties of sensors. Founded in 2017, the company raised €3M in Series A funding in December 2019.
Founders: Martino Poretti, Matteo Vanotti, Salvatore Ferullo
Location: Milan, Italy
19. Yolo Insurance
Yolo Insurance is an InsurTech start-up providing convenient digital micro-insurance and on-demand insurance. Consumers can use this platform to buy micro-insurance products in real-time and on a pay-per-use basis. Apart from offering health and travel insurance, the company provides insurance for appliances, pets, bikes, etc. The company was founded in 2017 and received €2.5M in a Series A funding round in August 2021.
Founders: Gianluca De Cobelli, Simone Ranucci Brandimarte
Location: Milan, Italy
20. Casavo
Casavo is a real estate start-up with a tech-enabled platform that buys property directly from a seller within 30 days and sells it to the next owner. The window in between involves Casavo’s automated valuation engine taking around 70 variables into account and providing the potential sellers with the fair value of their property followed by a purchase offer. Founded in 2017, the company raised €7M in a Series A funding round in March 2021.
Founders: Giorgio Tinacci, Simon Specka
Location: Milan, Italy
21. Scalapay
Founded in 2019, Scalapay is a ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ online lending platform for purchase financing. Its consumers are required to make repayments in three equal instalments. The company does not charge its users any form of interest or fees and operates its business by taking a commission from the merchants on a per transaction basis. The company raised $155M in equity funding as part of its Series A investment round, making it Europe’s largest-ever equity funding round.
Founders: Johnny Mitrevski, Simone Mancini
Location: Milan, Italy
22. Reasoned Art
Reasoned Art is an Italian gallery dedicated to CryptoArt and was founded in 2020. Reasoned Art aims to verify the authenticity of digital artwork through NFTs and blockchain. Reasoned Art raised €310,000 through Pre-Seed investment in September 2021.
Founders: Andrea Marec, Giulio Bozzo
Location: Genova, Liguria, Italy
23. Lithium Lasers
Founded in 2019, Lithium Lasers is a manufacturing startup that produces compact and robust ultrafast lasers using its state of the art optomechanical platform. The startup has raised a total of €700K in a Seed round in October 2021.
Founders: Martina Pagani, Alessandro Greborio
Location: Rovereto, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy
24. Together Price
Founded in 2015, Together Price is a platform that allows users to set up digital wallets to split the costs of subscription accounts like Netflix, Spotify etc., by paying together through that single wallet. Together Price has raised a total of €1.9M in funding over five rounds, including an equity crowdfunding round in January 2021.
Founders: Luca Ugolini, Marco Taddei, Sabrina Taddei
Location: Rome, Italy
25. ICONIUM
Founded in 2018, ICONIUM is an investment startup dedicated to backing revolutionary blockchain projects, crypto products and token sales. It has raised a total of €5M so far.
Founders: Antonio Chiarello, Fabio Pezzotti, Luciano Serra, Marco Costa, Mauro Del Rio, Thomas Baggio
Location: Milan, Italy
26. Else Corp
Founded in 2014, Else Corp is an Italian B2B and B2B2C startup that provides commercial solutions for manufacturing for the booming Italian fashion industry. It is also working towards providing innovative solutions like virtual fitting and mass customisation. Else Corp has raised a total of $2.9M in funding so far.
Founders: Andrea Silvestri, Andrey Golub, Zoran Radumilo
Location: Milan, Italy
27. GoVolt
Founded in 2017, GoVolt is a company that provides environment-friendly services for last-mile logistics. The company has four different divisions through which it aims to address the challenge of mobility in modern cities. GoVolt has raised a total of €905K in funding so far.
Founder: Giuliano Blei
Location: Milan, Italy
28. Eligo
Eligo is a platform marketplace for personal stylists. These stylists are trained to assist customers. Eligo also offers Italian brands the opportunity to market their products through these stylists. Eligo has raised a total of $1.6M so far.
Founders: Antonio Chiarello, Giulio Manno, Naomi Kohashi Catella
Location: Milan, Italy
29. Tutored
Founded in 2014, Tutored is a social platform for current university students and fresh graduates. It allows companies to advertise and recruit for their open roles through the platform. Tutored is currently active in Spain, France, and Italy and has raised €1.1M in funding.
Founders: Gabriele Giugliano, Martina Mattone, Nicolò Bardi
Location: Milan, Italy
30. Scuter
Scuter is a MaaS platform facilitating the rental and sharing of e-scooters in European cities. It aims to solve the large-scale transportation problem plaguing large European cities in an eco-friendly manner. Founded in 2015, Scuter has raised a total of €485K so far.
Founders: Carmine Nuzzo, Gabriele Carbucicchio, Gianmarco Carnovale, Luca Ruggeri
Location: Rome, Italy
31. Abiby
Founded in 2018, Abiby is a subscription box that allows people to try out beauty products from different brands. Abiby aims to allow new brands to enter the Italian market and give visibility of their products to potential customers. Abiby has raised a total of €3.5M so far.
Founders: Luca Della Croce di Dojola, Mario Parteli
Location: Milan, Italy
32. Teiacare
Founded in January 2018, Teiacare aims to leverage digital monitoring technology to help nurses care for elderly patients. Teiacare aims to provide viable solutions for Europe’s rapidly ageing population, which is causing a significant rise in healthcare expenditure. Teiacare has raised €1.4M so far.
Founders: Luca Della Croce di Dojola, Mario Parteli
Location: Milan, Italy
33. Buddyfit
Founded in 2019, Buddyfit offers users 150+ online fitness classes such as Pilates, Yoga, and HIIT. Bolstered by the impact of the pandemic, Buddyfit raised a €1.9M Seed round in August 2020 and a convertible note of €6M in February 2021. The total funding so far stands at €8.6M.
Founders: Giovanni Ciferri
Location: Genova, Italy
34. AideXa
AideXa is a challenger bank that aims to leverage the power of data to serve the seven million Italian SMEs with a turnover of less than €10M. AideXa has launched its first credit facility, ‘X-instant’, a product that promises to either approve or reject loan requests within 10 minutes. AideXa has raised a total of €45M in Seed funding so far.
Founders: Federico Sforza, Roberto Nicastro
Location: Milan, Italy
35. IQONIQ
Founded in 2019, IQONIQ is a platform that allows sports fans from around the world to interact with their favourite sporting clubs and idols. The app has various unique features such as in-app games, discounted tickets, and star interactions. IQONIQ raised a staggering €100M in debt-funding in 2020.
Founders: Meirav Harel
Location: Montecarlo, Italy
36. Roialty
Founded in 2014, Roialty has been helping multinational corporations turn anonymous data into valuable insights. It currently works with companies such as Barclays, Accenture, and Philip Morris. Roialty raised a €500K Seed in July 2019 to take its total funding to €2.5M.
Founders: Dario Manuli, Maurizio Ferraris, Stefano Tonella
Location: Milan, Italy
Did we miss anyone that you think should be on our list? Let us know at hello(@)cledara.com.
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