The Digital Transition Fund - PNRR is an instrument to stimulate the growth of an innovation ecosystem in digital transition sectors through venture capital investments.

For the purposes of the Invitation to submit proposals for this Fund, “target enterprises” are defined as:

1. start-ups with high development potential, with a special focus on SMEs (as referred to in Recommendation 361 of 8 May 2003) of the digital transition chains and implementing innovative projects;
2. start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises that have been established through a corporate spin-off or as a result of the sale of a company or business unit by a large or mid-cap company or that has been established with the investment of a large or mid-cap company with a view to venture building, if the spin-off took place on or after 1 February 2020;
3. holding companies which, cumulatively, (i) have their registered office in a country other than Italy and control (pursuant to Article 2359, par. 1, no. 1 of the Italian Civil Code) one of the companies referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and (ii) actually conduct their business or have development programmes in Italy; it should be noted in this case that the resources invested by the Fund will be used by the eligible companies in Italy and the intellectual property developed in Italy must remain in Italy.

It should be noted that the fact that a target company does not qualify as an "innovative start-up" or "innovative SME" is not an obstacle to investment by the Fund, subject to the competent governance bodies of the SGR (Asset Management Company) checking that the company's business/development projects matches the Fund's areas of interest.

Without prejudice to the SGR's selection autonomy, investment opportunities shall:

1. be aimed at target companies, with a particular focus on start-ups and SMEs in the digital transition sectors and those implementing innovative projects, including small and medium-sized enterprises created from spin-offs of large enterprises, the latter only if the spin-off occurred on or after 1 February 2020, but featuring a significant degree of scalability;
2. relate to investment in target companies in order to foster the digital transition of supply chains, in particular in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, cloud, healthcare, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, fintech and blockchain, or in other fields of the digital transition;
3. comply with the technical guidelines on applying the DNSH principle. For more details on excluded activities and Nace/Ateco codes, please refer to section 2 “Characteristics of the target enterprises” of the Invitation to submit proposals published below.

Regarding the Digital Transition Fund - PNRR, on 15 February 2023 the Invitation to submit proposals was published on the website of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy. Interested Subjects may submit projects for possible investment in the target enterprises by the Fund in question, by sending the project submission and accompanying documentation to digitaltransitionfund@cdpventurecapital.it. For further details on the required documentation, please refer to "Annex 1 - Due Diligence Checklist, target enterprise (zip) - version updated as of 15 March 2023", published on the website of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy.

Investment 3.2 “Financing of start-ups”, with a budget of 300 million euro, aims to strengthen the Fondo Nazionale Innovazione by creating a Digital Transition Fund, managed by CDP Venture Capital SGR S.p.A., to foster the digital transition of supply chains and small and medium-sized enterprises that carry out innovative projects in the areas of, in particular, artificial intelligence, cloud, healthcare, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, fintech and blockchain or other areas of digital transition. By 30 June 2025, the Fund aims to support at least 250 target companies with investments totalling 700 million euro and thus stimulate the growth of the Italian innovation ecosystem through direct and indirect venture capital (equity, quasi-equity, debt and quasi-debt) investments.

Direct investments will be made through equity and quasi-equity instruments, it being understood that the technical approach for making individual investments (in terms of, for example, the amount invested and the specific type of instrument) will be assessed and defined on a case-by-case basis by the investment team. In accordance with market practice, CDP Venture Capital reserves the right to make the investment conditional on the recognition of certain specific rights, such as information or governance rights.

Indirect investments (fund of funds approach) will take place through the subscription of instruments of “third-party target funds” managed by “authorised managers”.

For more details on direct and indirect investments, please refer to the definitions in the Financial Agreement signed between the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (former Ministry of Economic Development) and CDP Venture Capital SGR S.p.A.

No, the investment methods of the Relaunch Fund are as described in the FAQ section.