Who we are
Aurelio Mezzotero & Gianluca D’Agostino, Founding Partners
The Techshop is a Venture Capital-focused asset management company founded in 2021 by two professionals with over 50 years of combined and complementary experience in the tech industry, Aurelio as professional investor and Gianluca as digital entrepreneur.
Our first fund, Techshop I, invests in early-stage companies active in the B2B software space. Our hands-on approach translates into active support for founders on both strategic and operational matters.
Our firm was born out of the belief that early-stage investing is one of the few segments in which Italian VCs can compete in a globalized market. We believe that our expertise, both in business and investing, represents a competitive advantage that we offer to talented and ambitious founders.
Our manifesto
We believe that technological progress is the main source of growth for humanity and the only way to succeed in doing more with fewer resources.
We believe, in agreement with most economists, that economy’s productivity – driven by technological progress – allows for prices to fall, supply to increase and demand to expand, in turn improving the well-being of society at large.
We believe that the engine of global technological innovation is no longer confined to a few geographical areas but that thanks to lower hurdles – both entry barriers in the software space and mobility barriers for talent to move freely – this can be set in motion anywhere, including Italy.
We believe that Italy has an “unfair advantage” when it comes to human capital, which has always been driven by innate curiosity and adaptability, as demonstrated by the countless Italians who live and have lived abroad, bringing with them valuable technological and business know-how when they decide to return home. As such, Italy has great potential in the tech space, of which innovative software companies are carriers.
We believe in the values of ambition, persistence, resilience and courage. And that the probability of success of any venture is inevitably linked to the founders’ skills and talent.
We believe in the principle of no harm to our habitat and planet Earth and we strive to minimize or offset any potential negative externalities of the companies we engage with.