FIRST CLOSING FOR THE TECHSHOP

9 Mar 2022 | News

The €50M Seed kicks-off, with the subscription of CDP Venture Capital SGR and primary individual investors. The focus of the VC Fund launched by Aurelio Mezzotero and Gianluca D’Agostino is on B2B software. Target exceeded, first closing at 32.5 million. Investment targets are Italian startups specialized in enterprise-tech and SaaS, based on Artificial intelligence, Big Data, Cloud, Cybersecurity, 5G and IoT.
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Milan, 9th March 2022“Techshop Primo”, the Seed fund specialized in companies at the forefront of software solutions for the Enterprise world, is now fully operational. The goal is to identify founders with talent in coding and product management and with a distribution model mainly SaaS (Software as a Service) and support their scaling-up path.

The initiative is launched by The Techshop SGR, founded by Gianluca D’Agostino, a digital entrepreneur and angel investor, and by Aurelio Mezzotero, an investment banker and venture capitalist, who are also investors and key men of the fund.

The first closing was carried out to start investing in the deals developed and negotiated by Techshop team throughout the past months, exceeding 32 million euros. The raising will continue over the next months, with the goal set at €50 million.

CDP Venture Capital SGR has also shown interest in The Techshop project, committing as cornerstone investor through its FoF VenturItaly funds, Co-Investimento Mise fund and Italia Venture II fund – Fondo Imprese Sud. The other investors are women and men with entrepreneurial or professional backgrounds, who will play a role in the screening and the development of the portfolio. These are entrepreneurs and business leaders in the Telco, Banking, Big Tech, Insurance, Industrial and Consumer Goods worlds, or legal and financial advisory professionals.

Starting today, Techshop Primo boosts its operations and in the coming weeks will execute the first investments in Italian B2B digital startups with high growth potential and global ambition, with special regard to Southern Italy and to the Italian founders abroad. The initial ticket is expected to range from 500.000 to 1 million euros.
Techshop Primo will focus on Seed Capital, which is the initial stage in which startups have the greatest need for capital and assistance and have the greatest potential for return on investment. In the Techshop Primo radar, there will be innovative products based on six “game changer” technologies: AI, Analytics, IoT, Security, 5G, Cloud.

The fund will provide its portfolio companies, in exchange for a qualified minority stake, not merely the economic resources to build a compelling growth plan, but also the managerial experiences and relationships which make Techshop unique.
The strategy will be facilitated by a series of alliances with accelerators and incubators, domain experts, business angels, in Italy and abroad, selected by The Techshop to feed a collaboration and co-investment ecosystem.

“We would like to become the most active Seed Capital fund in Italy” – declared Aurelio Mezzotero“by focusing on innovative digital products and solutions which create new product categories. We aim to mitigate the risk inherent to the early stage also thanks to the inputs coming from our wide network of technology and business experts, a true unicum in the market. “
“Our project, conceived and developed with passion over the last 18 months, can now take off.” – added Gianluca D’Agostino“We believe we can make an original and entrepreneurial contribution to the Italian tech ecosystem, both in target screening and in portfolio development, with a fund that has the right size to support startups even in the later investment stages. Our first investments in the pipeline will already illustrate our approach: stay tuned! “
“Contributing to the creation of new venture capital funds means increasing the growth and development chances of the Italian startups, and this is a fundamental objective for CDP Venture Capital” comments Enrico Resmini, CEO and General Manager of CDP Venture Capital. “Techshop represents a new fund manager specialized in B2B who supports Italian companies in the early stages of life and with a specific attention to the Southern regions, all elements that have convinced us to support this team so focused and enthusiastic”.
For CDP Venture Capital Sgr, the operation was followed by Cristina Bini and Giacomo Valentini, respectively Head and Partner of FoF VenturItaly, and by Francesca Ottier, Head of the Italia Venture II fund.

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THE TECHSHOP SGR
The Techshop is a new SGR specialized in Venture Capital funds. The Techshop was founded and is led by two digital ecosystem innovators, entrepreneur and business angel Gianluca D’Agostino (Neomobile, Bango, London Business Angel, IAG) and Venture Capital veteran Aurelio Mezzotero (Atlante Ventures, IAG , Innogest). On the board of the SGR they are joined by Carlo Brunetti, Barbara Zanardi and Antonello Lupo, the latter also a member of the Investment Committee of the Techshop Primo startup fund. More information on: www.techshop.capital

CDP Venture Capital SGR – Fondo Nazionale Innovazione
CDP Venture Capital is an SGR (70% of CDP Equity and 30% of Invitalia) with over 1.5 billion euros under management. It aims to make Venture Capital a cornerstone of the country’s economic development and innovation, creating the conditions for overall and sustainable growth of the Venture Capital ecosystem. It operates with a series of funds that aim to support startups in all their life stages, delivering both direct and indirect investments. More information on: www.cdpventurecapital.it