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The Italian venture capital market

Author

Listed:
  • Raffaele Gallo

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Federico Maria Signoretti

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Ilaria Supino

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Enrico Sette

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Paolo Cantatore

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Marco Luigi Fabbri

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

This paper describes the characteristics of the Italian venture capital (VC) industry, a key sector to foster the creation and growth of innovative firms. Despite a recent increase, VC investment in Italy is still limited in comparison with the other main European economies. The reasons for this gap can be grouped into three broad factors that affect all the stages of the start-up lifecycle, interacting and negatively reinforcing each other. First, in Italy there are relatively few innovative and marketable ideas, which limits demand for venture financing in the first place. Second, the domestic VC fund industry is undersized compared with France and Germany, reflecting the low involvement of domestic institutional investors and the lagged start of public investment in this sector. Third, in Italy there are comparatively fewer opportunities for successful exits from VC investment, which is an obstacle to investment in the first place. Against this background, public policy should continue to support the growth of the Italian VC ecosystem; given the interdependencies along the entire VC value chain, policies should address weaknesses across multiple dimensions.

Suggested Citation

  • Raffaele Gallo & Federico Maria Signoretti & Ilaria Supino & Enrico Sette & Paolo Cantatore & Marco Luigi Fabbri, 2025. "The Italian venture capital market," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 919, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_919_25
    as

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    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2025-0919/QEF_919_25.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    5. Burström, Thommie & Lahti, Tom & Parida, Vinit & Wartiovaara, Markus & Wincent, Joakim, 2023. "A definition, review, and extension of global ecosystems theory: Trends, architecture and orchestration of global VCs and mechanisms behind unicorns," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    venture capital; start-ups; innovation; investment funds;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G24 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Investment Banking; Venture Capital; Brokerage
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

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