Milan’s P101 SGR secured €250M to boost Italy’s fintech, proptech, and biotech startups, targeting cross-border growth and 3,000 jobs by 2030, as southern Europe narrows the VC gap with Germany and France.
P101 SGR’s new €250M fund, backed by CDP Venture Capital and Italy’s PNRR recovery plan, signals a strategic push to transform the nation’s startup ecosystem—currently 1/10th the size of Germany’s—through C-suite talent injections and cross-border deals.
Italy’s VC Ambition Takes Shape
Milan-based venture firm P101 SGR announced the final close of its €250 million fund on March 15, 2025, according to a press release from CDP Venture Capital, its anchor investor. The fund targets early-stage Italian startups in fintech, proptech, and biotech—sectors CEO Andrea Di Camillo calls ‘Italy’s economic DNA.’
Speaking at the Politecnico di Milano’s innovation hub, Di Camillo outlined plans: ‘We’ve already placed 45 seasoned executives into portfolio companies this year. This isn’t just capital—it’s about rebuilding Italy’s industrial expertise for the digital age.’
Bridging the European Investment Gap
While Germany attracted €10.2 billion in VC funding last year compared to Italy’s €1.1 billion, P101’s strategy allocates 30% of capital to startups expanding beyond Italy. Recent investments include proptech firm DomuRent’s Iberian market entry and biotech lab CellX’s Munich-based R&D partnership.
Claudia Pingue, CDP Venture Capital’s managing director, tied the fund to Italy’s post-pandemic recovery: ‘Through the PNRR [National Recovery and Resilience Plan], we’re matching EU recovery funds with private capital to create sustainable tech champions.’
Southern Europe’s Ascent
Italy’s push mirrors Spain’s travel tech boom, where AuroTravel raised $246 million in January 2025 for AI-driven tourism platforms. However, P101’s focus on executive hiring diverges from regional peers. The firm recruited 25 CFOs and 20 CTOs in 2024 alone, many from multinationals like Generali and STMicroelectronics.
Yet challenges persist. Bureaucratic delays still average 11 months for startup licensing, per Italy’s 2024 Digital Economy Report. ‘The talent is here, but global investors need faster execution,’ warned Bocconi University’s tech policy chair, Dr. Giulia Bianchi, in a recent blog post.
Historical Context: From Exits to Ecosystem
Italy’s startup scene gained momentum after MusixMatch’s $500 million acquisition by Spotify in 2022—a deal that returned €80 million to P101’s previous fund. That exit helped attract limited partners like the European Investment Fund to the new vehicle.
The current fund size marks a 67% increase from P101’s 2021 vintage, reflecting growing confidence. Yet Italy’s VC investment remains just 0.08% of GDP—below Spain’s 0.12% and France’s 0.3%, per 2024 European Commission data. As Di Camillo noted: ‘We’re not chasing Berlin or Paris. We’re building something distinctly Italian—scalable, but rooted in our manufacturing and design heritage.’
