https://sifted.eu/articles/ferrari-exor-seeds-italy-y-combinator/ Open Menu * Sectors + Venture Capital + Startup Life + Fintech + Sustainability + All Sectors... * Latest * For members * Reports * Newsletters * Events + Talks \ Online + Members \ Paris + Sessions \ Tallinn * Discover + Membership + Startup Explorer + Rankings + Careers + About us + Knowledge Hub * Log in * Join * My profile * My Sifted * Log out Startup Europe. Grown up reporting * My profile * My Sifted * Log out * Log in * Join * Latest Read More * For members Read More * Reports Read More * Newsletters Read More * Talks Read More * Knowledge Hub Read More * Other + Membership + Startup Explorer + Rankings + Future Proof + About us * Sectors * Countries * Newsletters * Intelligence * Jobs Board * About * Press Kit * Terms of Use * Privacy Policy * Controllership * Contact Us * * * * * Close search [ ] Venture Capital/News/ Ferrari owner Exor wants to build the Italian Y Combinator Exor wants to "fill the void" in early stage startup funding in Italy By Amy O'Brien 29 March 2022 Diego Piacentini, chairman of Exor Seeds Diego Piacentini, chairman of Exor Seeds [The-JamJar] \Venture Capital Innocent Drinks founders' VC JamJar raises PS100m fund By Katja Staple 6 April 2022 Closed lock Open lock Member Venture Capital/News/ Ferrari owner Exor wants to build the Italian Y Combinator Exor wants to "fill the void" in early stage startup funding in Italy By Amy O'Brien 29 March 2022 * Facebook share icon * Twitter share icon * LinkedIn share icon * Email share icon * Flipboard share icon * * Diego Piacentini's career mirrors that of many Italians in tech: he left Italy. After studying economics at Bocconi University in Milan, he moved to Silicon Valley and held senior roles at Apple and Amazon. But now, Piacentini has returned to his homeland to help fix the tech brain drain that he once embodied. The exodus of tech talent and lack of startup creation in Italy has worried investors, policymakers and founders for years. Though the country is the fourth-largest economy in Europe, it has ranked twelfth for VC investment over the last five years. It's created only one private tech company worth more than $1bn since the dotcom boom. Compare that to Spain, a smaller economy, which has three. Piacentini is now chairman of Exor Seeds, the new early-stage venture arm of Ferrari's owner Exor. And his solution for Italian tech's woes? A funding programme for pre-seed and seed stage Italian startups, launched today -- a sort of Y Combinator for Italy. "We believe Italy is at an inflection point. Italian success stories are beginning to emerge and people are returning to Italy from Silicon Valley and the rest of Europe to build companies," Piacentini told Sifted. "We have no ambition to emulate the likes of Y Combinator, or even Kima Ventures, from the start. But we aspire to what they have built -- our ultimate goal is to get to that level." It's not the first time that the massive family-owned holding company Exor has taken a look at startups. It has invested over $700m in 40 tech startups to date, including a $200m investment in transport startup Via in 2020 and participation in the Series C of proptech Casavo (which featured on Sifted's Italian Startups To Watch list for 2022). Exor Seeds was also listed as an investor in Qonto's massive EUR486m round earlier this year. Not a venture fund, nor an accelerator Exor Seeds will invest EUR150k from the group's assets into two Italian startups a week, in return for between 5% and 8% of the company. And it won't demand a board seat. Exor Seeds is "not a venture fund, nor an accelerator," Piacentini tells Sifted. Rather, it's a new programme geared towards funnelling some of Exor's EUR30bn in assets under management into helping Italy's tech ecosystem play catch up to the likes of France and Germany. Exor did not want to confirm the size of the "pot" for investments allocated to its new Seeds venture arm. According to Piacentini, this will be worked out once the group gets a sense of how many applications it will receive. "Simplicity will be key for deploying capital fast" This capital will be deployed to applicants that meet Exor Seed's business model criteria, and the group is aiming for a week's turnaround time from application submission to investment. "Our application format will be familiar, similar to that of Y Combinator's -- simplicity will be key for deploying capital fast," says Piacentini. To begin with, Exor Seeds isn't promising a "cohort" structure or networking opportunities -- its main focus will be on providing fast capital -- but it does have a "small team of advisers" that will help mentor CEOs. Mirroring the holding company's overall investment strategy, Exor Seeds won't have an official focus on one particular sector, but it is "likely to to be geared towards mobility, fintech and healthcare," Piacentini says. He tells Sifted that Exor Seeds has already made three investments into seed-stage Italian startups that have not yet been made public -- one mental health startup, one NFT startup and one deeptech startup. Amy O'Brien is a reporter at Sifted. She tweets from @Amy_EOBrien Related Articles * [yH5BAEAAAA] Founders -- here's everything you need to know about term sheets By Kai Nicol-Schwarz Click here to read more * [yH5BAEAAAA] InfraVia's EUR501m fund wants to scale 15 European tech champions By Freya Pratty Click here to read more * [yH5BAEAAAA] Closed lock Open lock Member 25 UK venture capital funds founders should know By Kim Darrah Click here to read more * [yH5BAEAAAA] Closed lock Open lock Member The rise of the lone wolf VC in Europe By Isabel Woodford and Eleanor Warnock Click here to read more Most Read 1. 1 \Fintech Meet the fintech that wants to make credit cards cool again 2. 2 \Venture Capital Can you teach VC? Two dudes with a board and some cards think you can 3. 3 \Startup Life European tech companies should be minting more millionaires 4. 4 \Consumer Trouble at Glovo: how 'good vibes' turned into a 'nightmare' 5. 5 Closed lock Open lock Member \Public & Academic 12 up-and-coming European university spinouts, according to VCs Join the conversation avatar [ ] [ ] [ ] Please keep comments respectful. By commenting, you agree to abide by our community guidelines and these terms and conditions. This comment form is under antispam protection [ ] [Post Comment] avatar [ ] [ ] [ ] Please keep comments respectful. By commenting, you agree to abide by our community guidelines and these terms and conditions. This comment form is under antispam protection [ ] [Post Comment] Subscribe Notify of [new follow-up comments ] [ ] [>] Browse * Sectors * Countries * Newsletters * Intelligence * Jobs Board About Us * About * Careers * Press kit * Terms of use * Privacy policy * Advertising More * Open roles * Our latest fundraise * Controllership Sifted is Please follow us * * * * * Please follow us * * * * * * About * Careers * Press kit * Terms of use * Privacy policy * Advertising (c) 2022 Sifted EU Ltd. All Rights Reserved. \Sign up for free Get unlimited access to all of Sifted's free coverage and analysis. You'll also be able to choose your preferred newsletter and report subscriptions. Sound good? Let's get started. [logomark-p] Register My profile