Milan, 26 January 2021 - Digital Magics S.p.A. and CDP Venture Capital SGR - Fondo Nazionale Innovazione, following the co-investment transactions carried out in September last year, concluded a new round of investments, bringing the number of innovative Italian startups that benefited from it from 6 to 14. The amount of the investments therefore reaches a total of 12.1 million euro, of which 7.1 million euro in the seed round under the “AccelerORA” and “Seed Per il Sud” programmes, in addition to 5 million euro in the capital increase of the startup Buzzoole, with the participation of the Fondo Italia Venture II, StarTIP and Vertis SGR. 

More specifically, CDP Venture Capital SGR participated with approximately 6.4 million euro through the Fondo Acceleratori (with the “AccelerORA” programme) and the Fondo Italia Venture II (with the “Seed per il Sud” programme which co-invested in 4 seed transactions).
In addition to Digital Magics, which invested around 500 thousand euro, and CDP Venture Capital SGR, professional and institutional investors participated in the investment rounds for over 5 million euro. The investments were made through financing subject to mandatory conversion (hence without a repayment option).

The investment transactions were completed in just 6 months and in a fully digital format, confirming the significant interest on the part of investors and institutions in the startup asset class.
    
Marco Gay, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Magics, said: “This second capital injection underlines the continuity of the effective cooperation with CDP Venture Capital SGR and its team, and confirms the acceleration in third-party investment and the growth of opportunities for Italian startups. The additional 8 of our investee companies have found an important partner who, with Digital Magics and the other investors, has raised equity funding, strategic capital for future plans.”

Enrico Resmini, Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of CDP Venture Capital SGR - Fondo Nazionale Innovazione, comments: “This important second round of investment, together with Digital Magics, highlights not only the commitment we have undertaken since the launch of the Fondo Nazionale Innovazione, but above all the importance of teaming up with the leading players in the ecosystem, enabling the sustainable development of the most deserving and innovative projects in our country.”  

The startups invested in are as follows:

AWorld: innovative startup with offices in Turin and New York, it invests in sustainability and in the planet’s future, with the aim of creating a sustainable culture through the public, businesses and institutions. AWorld has created a social-gamified platform that rewards users for their sustainable actions and behaviours, using the gamification system.

Axieme Group: startup operating in the insurtech sector that is bringing digital transformation to the insurance sector. Axieme is the first and only player in Italy to distribute Giveback policies, which entitle the policyholder to receive a partial refund of the premium paid in the absence of claims. Axidigital operates as an enabler for sector players who wish to enter the digital distribution of insurance policies. Axidata acts as a data aggregator for the analysis of data and the allocation of a score to the policyholders.

Bikeroom: a platform to purchase premium bikes online, directly from the manufacturer, with zero-interest loan instalments. It was set up and developed thanks to a strategic partnership established with the leading manufacturers to provide the guarantee of a certified online purchase. Based on the customer’s preferences, the bike is shipped directly to their home or to an authorised Bikeroom workshop.

Buzzoole, Italy’s leading influencer marketing solution provider able to connect brands to content creators through the use of Artificial Intelligence. It provides businesses with solutions to manage, automate and measure Influencer Marketing campaigns, through proprietary Artificial Intelligence platforms and algorithms. Buzzoole collaborates with over 850 customers in Europe and boasts one of the largest content creator marketplaces consisting of around 2 million profiles.

Crea Assicurazioni: fully digital Managing General Agent that is redefining the insurance policy subscription and provision process through Machine Learning. Its technology is based on the Policy Builder Language, a proprietary language that allows to digitise any policy and exchange information between the various players in a short space of time. The designed model prices the risk automatically, ensuring the issuance of the insurance certificate immediately following the completion of the customer’s request. 

Criptalia is the regulated peer-to-peer crowdlending platform, which connects high-net-worth SMEs wishing to invest in a growth project with lenders looking for good and low-risk interest rates to invest in. Criptalia uses permissionless public Blockchains, mainly with the Bitcoin and Ethereum protocols, since the public Blockchain is considered the only one that can guarantee sufficient transparency, immutability and security for investors. The startup is 100% compliant with the European MiFID II regulation.

ELI WMS: cloud platform that offers dynamic and innovative management of a company’s warehouse. It enables companies to manage their warehouses anywhere in the world without having to develop the IT infrastructure, using scanners for reading bar codes and RFID. It takes advantage of all the potential of Google’s cloud platforms to automate and optimise operations, reducing costs and times related to the activities of the people working within the warehouse.

GrowishPay, an Italian fintech startup, is a leader in e-wallet-based social payment solutions for group payments, gift lists, gift cards, e-wallet management, payments by loyalty card, and loyalty and cashback programmes. The company operates under the Growish brand (online collections), ListaNozzeOnline.com (wedding list to collect gift amounts on wallets and wedding sites) and ScuolaPay, to pay for every school activity in a simple and secure way (coming soon). Backed by the experience of over 105,000 users and over 35 million euro of managed transactions, it provides B2B2C solutions via API, SDK or white-label SaaS platform for retail and e-commerce with omnichannel convergence to over 1,000 leading merchants.

Plurima, the most advanced and complete digital insurance platform on the market, is the first Italian network of independent insurance agents. It is an insurance management software created for all insurance intermediaries A, B and E, which provides fast access and registration without obligations, a wide range of specific products for every need, quick estimates and complete tools for managing pre-contractual documentation, the policy and receipts.

FrescoFrigo, an innovative startup established with the aim of developing a new retail concept (1 sqm). It allows to improve the everyday lifestyle, thanks to privileged access to quality, fresh and healthy products just a few steps away from one’s desk and front door. The startup takes care of the entire technological process, from hardware to software development, to the FrescoFrigo installation. Thanks to an App dedicated to the customer and to the Dashboard for the supplier, the company is able to manage, deliver and supply FrescoFrigo daily with a high quality offering, which meets the needs of target customers in the relevant location.

SurgiQ: SurgiQ’s unique approach simplifies and optimises the management of healing processes thanks to the display and traceability of the data and the use of Artificial Intelligence for the automatic planning of critical resources. The technology used makes the clinical process more effective, less invasive and more streamlined for patients, their loved ones and healthcare professionals, ensuring the achievement of the objectives with the highest priority.

Volumeet, a startup established with the aim of developing an innovative music social network to allow fans to keep track of all the social content of their favourite artists, receiving notifications in real time with each new post. In 2018, the company developed Musify, the first platform to generate music quizzes that allows companies and the music industry to create engagement in an innovative way. To date, the company has closed an agreement with TIM Music for the integration of the Musify platform functions within its app.  

Wenda, established as a startup in the food tech sector, is an Italian business that collaborates with the major players in the Food & Beverage sector globally, from manufacturers to retailers, from logistics to insurance companies. Wenda digitises temperature and traceability data by combining them with logistics data in the multiple phases of distribution, automatically integrating with measurement tools and management, logistics and quality software used by the various supply chain players. By controlling every phase of the supply chain, it reduces food waste and enhances freshness, optimising processes and cutting down time and costs, protecting consumers, increasing transparency, safety and traceability.

Xoko: it implements digital products for the tourism and related sectors. Its first product, Hotelbrand, is a suite of tools developed for the analysis, comparison and optimisation of rates, reviews, and brand reputation for hotels. A dashboard that helps facilities save time and resources by bringing together all the necessary tools in a single application.