Arcadia

illuminem raises €2 million round!🎯 Illuminem is dedicated to helping sustainability solution providers grow. The €2 million round was led by BlackWood, Fortino Capital, Genesis Venture, Sustainable Impact, Eden Ventures, Spin Ventures and Techstars, in addition to prominent climate personalities such as the CEOs/CSOs of Vestas Tikehau Capital, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Carbonsink, Magaldi and TAQA, and startup founders such as iubenda and Volteris.✍️ Founded in Venice in 2023 by Andrea Gori, Illuminem uses artificial intelligence to constantly crawl the web for valuable content on climate change, with the first Sustainability Sales Navigator to help sustainability solution providers grow and allow them to monitor and compare the ESG performance of public and private companies. 🌱 This funding will allow Illuminem to grow and continue developing the first sales tool for #sustainability, fostering growth in this new sector and positively impacting the planet.📈 Follow Arcadia to stay updated on #ItalianVC!

PhotonPath raises a €1 million round!🔦 PhotonPath, a spinoff of the Politecnico di Milano and alumnus of PoliHub, has closed a €1 million funding round. Supporting the young university startup are Deep Blue Ventures (deep tech fund of Deep Ocean Capital SGR) and Levante Capital BV. The actual funding amounts to €5 million, to be collected by 2024.💰 Founded in 2019 by Emanuele Guglielmi and Douglas Aguiar, PhotonPath specializes in integrated photonics and offers solutions for sensing and communication such as PICs, Photonic Integrated Circuits that use the power of light and photons to bring speed, reliability and efficiency to communication networks, sensing or computing systems. 📞 The funds raised will help PhotonPath further enhance its modular plug-and-play photonic products, expand into new markets and become a leader in integrated photonics.📈 Follow Arcadia to stay updated on Italian VC!

Vortex closes €460k seed round!🚀 Vortex is an Italian startup that seeks to solve the problem of food waste linked to industrial food chain waste. Its 460k seed round was led by industrial partner Andriani, who engaged in healthy food, and some Italian business angels.✍️ Founded in Turin in 2020 by Lorenzo Picco and Simone Piccolo. Vortex is involved in producing and promoting cosmetic products made from apple waste. It has recently expanded its operations to include the recovery, promotion, and B2B marketing of by-products from the food industry.💡 The funding will be used for industrial research activities and the development of raw materials in the food, pet food, and skincare sectors. It will also be allocated for team development and the creation of new beauty products.📈📈 Follow Arcadia to keep up to date with stories like this!

Discover three of the most interesting #EdTech startups in Italy!🏆 Week eleven of our "Top Three Italian Startups" format, in which Arcadia showcases Italian startups that innovate in the fundamental fields of technological development. Today it's the turn of EdTech, so here are three of the most promising Italian startups in the sector that takes care of one of the most precious resources in this world, human capital:👨🏻🏫 We start with FunniFin - Financial Wellbeing, a Florence-based startup that wants to help companies improve the financial well-being of their employees. Through their user-centric platform, they can provide not only the user with personalised coaching sessions and interesting training programs but also the company with AI-powered tools to lighten the administrative work of HR in managing benefits (FunniFin is included among the benefits) and assist users in case of need.🤑 From Rome, Schoolr has implemented a distance learning platform that digitises the entire path of training delivery and recovery learning. In practice, with Schoolr, taking tutoring or reviewing topics that have turned out to be incomprehensible at school or elsewhere becomes easier, faster, more personalized, and more effective. Online tutors, cloud notes, and periodic assessments are just a few of the benefits of using Schoolr.📚 Finally, Wibo from Turin wants to be the training solution that gives company managers the best possible management training thanks to practical lessons, micro-learning, peer sessions held by great executives and founders of historic companies. Through community building, networking, and the exchange of best practices, Wibo intends to provide all companies with the best possible managers!👩🏼💼 Follow Arcadia to discover other top three startups!

Atlas Sgr Announces the Closing of Two Investment Funds!💸 The Milanese savings management company, founded to support the real economy with alternative investment funds, announced last week that it has closed its renamed funds "Atlas PMI Destinazione Futuro", which invests in Italian #SMEs, and Atlas AI Fund I, a venture capital fund that invests in operational #startups in the AI and cybersecurity fields.✍🏻 In particular, the first fund has raised the first € 15 million with a fundraising target of € 100 million in 2 years, which will be disbursed in the form of loans to freelancers, minibonds, crowdfunding or crowdlending up to € 500k for a maximum of 7 years. The loans have a minimum guarantee of 50% issued by Confidi and counter-guaranteed by the Central Guarantee Fund for SMEs.🏦 The second fund has raised the first € 10 million out of a total target of € 50 million, which will be invested in pre-seed and seed rounds of AI and cybersecurity startups with the possibility of following up to the Series A stage. The fund also enjoys the support of leading partners such as venture builders Merantix, FOOLFARM and Slimmer AI.🤖 Follow Arcadia for similar news!

How to represent and improve a startup ecosystem!📊 Italy, as we know, is an emerging geography when it comes to startups, which does not benefit from particular experience or maturity in the sector, nor from a wealth of capital, despite having a lot of potential. And this is both a problem and an opportunity, which must be solved both to mitigate the negative consequences generated by the problem and to enjoy the positive ones of its hypothetical resolution.💡 And usually, to solve such complex problems, it can be helpful to represent them visually on a surface so as to have a clear idea of how to intervene. This is why we are using an excellent #startupecosystem representation model developed by Cukier & Kon (2018) and we ask you:🤔 What are the points of the ecosystem that should be intervened upon most in Italy? Let us know in the comments below!👇🏻

BionIT Labs closes €5.5 million round!🚀 Back to talking about innovative realities in medical research, we are pleased to report that BionIT Labs, a medtech startup, has closed a €5.5 million round led by CDP Venture Capital SGR (through Fondo Italia Venture II - Fondo Imprese Sud) and Fondo RIF managed by Equiter Spa and Sefea Impact Sgr, SIMEST Spa, Fondazione Enea Tech and Biomedical.✍️ Founded in Soleto in 2018 by Giovanni Antonio Zappatore, Matteo Aventaggiato and Federico Gaetani. BionIT Labs develops an upper limb myoelectric prosthesis called Adam's Hand. It is the world's first fully adaptive bionic hand, using patented technology to move all fingers with a single motor, allowing them to adapt to the shape and size of objects being grasped.💡 The funding round will allow the startup to enter the market and continue to invest in the research and development of Adam's Hand and its accessories. It will also expand its presence in the US market and support global growth by increasing its prosthetic product offering.📈 Follow Arcadia to keep up to date with stories like this!

Muffin raises €3.2 million!🚀 The Italian startup Muffin, dedicated to facilitating subsidized finance through #AI solutions embedded in its platform, has closed a €3.2 million pre-seed round led by various tech and finance investors. ✍ Founded in Turin in 2022 by Michele Bonelli, Lorenzo Maternini and Feat. Ventures, venture builders of Fabio Sferruzzi and Matteo Gallo. Muffin simplifies and optimizes accessing tax incentives using AI.💡 The startup, which has been on the market since June 2023, will focus on developing its platform in the coming months of this year to consolidate its position as an essential tool in the professional world for both companies and consultants.📈 Follow Arcadia to keep up to date with stories like this!

Discover three of the most interesting #WaterTech startups in Italy!🏆 Tenth week for our "Top Three #ItalianStartups list" format, in which Arcadia showcases Italian startups that innovate in the strategic fields of human progress. Today it's the turn of WaterTech, so here are three of the most promising Italian startups in the sector that optimizes the management of our times' blue gold:👇🏻 We start with Wave - Smart Water Save, a startup from Borgosesia (Vercelli) that proposes an IoT system for water management capable of optimizing water consumption by 30% and energy consumption by 20%. The system allows the flow only when the desired temperature is reached by recirculating the water before dispensing it (avoiding having to let it run) and also monitors for leaks or water status.💧 From Milan, Floaty startup* startup deals with purifying industrial and urban wastewater by optimising phytoremediation processes that use specific bacteria that degrade pollutants in #wastewater. Floaty deals with the end-to-end management of purification plants, both from an engineering and microbiological point of view.🏭 Finally, Finapp (from Montegrotto Terme) develops water detection systems based on CRNS (Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing) probes that exploit the interaction between cosmic neutrons and water to measure the presence of water in a decidedly innovative way. You can measure water content on 1-20 hectares, at 50 cm depth in the ground (50 meters, if in snow) and have data in real time!📏 Follow Arcadia to discover other top three startups!

RECORNEA closes a €150k round!👁️ It's been a while since we've seen rounds in the Italian #medtech sector, but Recornea has closed a €150k funding round led by Roman deep tech fund Scientifica Venture Capital.💸 Founded in 2019 in Trieste and led by CEO Emiliano Lepore, Recornea is a medtech startup that develops ophthalmic therapeutic solutions for corneal diseases, such as keratoconus. Although still in the pre-clinical stage, the startup has developed the proprietary GROSSO implant, the first corneal implant based on nitinol (a nickel-titanium alloy), capable of achieving excellent clinical outcomes in the treatment of the cornea.🧿 Current technologies are not adequate to achieve a total recovery of corneal health from pathologies that deform the shape of the cornea (so-called PCSDs), while GROSSO is able to restore the physiological curvature of the cornea with predictable clinical results that improve the patient's quality of life.👀 Follow Arcadia to discover other Italian startups on the rise!