Digital Transition

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 Call for Proposals for this Fund, “target enterprises” are defined as start-ups with high development potential, with a focus on SMEs (as referred to in Recommendation 361 of 8 May 2003) in the digital transition sectors and which carry out innovative projects; start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises that have been set up through a corporate spin-off or as a result of the sale of a company or business unit by a large enterprise or a medium-capitalisation (or mid-cap) company or that have been established with the investment of a large enterprise or mid-cap company with a view to venture building; holding companies that, cumulatively, (i) have their registered office in a State other than Italy and control (within the meaning of Art. 2359(1)(1) of the Italian Civil Code) one of the companies referred to in the preceding paragraphs, and (ii) actually carry out 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 Asset Management Company checking that the company's business/development projects matches the Fund's areas of interest.

Without prejudice to the selection autonomy of the Asset Management Company, investment opportunities must have the following characteristics: they shall have target companies, with particular regard to start-ups and SMEs in the digital transition chains and start-ups and SMEs that carry out innovative projects, including small and medium-sized enterprises created from spin-offs of large companies, the latter only if they are characterised by a significant degree of scalability; they shall concern investment in target companies in order to favour the digital transition of the chains, in particular in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, cloud, healthcare, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, fintech, blockchain and microelectronics, or in other areas of the digital transition; compliance with the technical guidelines on the application of the DNSH principle. For more details on excluded activities and Nace/Ateco codes, please refer to section 2 “Characteristics of the target companies” of the Invitation to submit proposals published below.

With regard to the Digital Transition Fund – PNRR, the Call for proposals was published on the website of the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and on the CDP Venture Capital SGR website (see section ‘Download invitations and guidance’ below, version updated to January 2025).
Interested parties may submit projects for possible investment in the target companies by the Fund by sending the project presentation and accompanying documentation to the address digitaltransitionfund@cdpventurecapital.it  .
For more details on the required documentation, please refer to ‘Annex 1 - Due Diligence Checklist, target company’ published on the website of the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy and on the CDP Venture Capital SGR website (see section ‘Download invitations and guidance’ below, version updated to January 2025).

The Digital Transition Fund – PNRR is a reserved closed-end fund established on 20 September 2022 under an agreement signed by the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (formerly the Ministry of Economic Development) and CDP Venture Capital SGR S.p.A., through the use of resources allocated by the European Union through the NextGeneration EU initiative and included in the PNRR Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 3.2 ‘Financing of start-ups’ for an amount of €400 million.
To foster the digital transition of supply chains and small and medium-sized enterprises implementing innovative projects in the fields of artificial intelligence, cloud, healthcare, Industry 4.0, cybersecurity, fintech, blockchain and microelectronics, or in other areas of the digital transition. The aim of the Fund is to stimulate private investments, improve access to financing in the Italian digital start-up ecosystem and develop the venture capital market in the sector, through the signing of financing agreements with start-ups, newcos or venture capital funds by 30 June 2026 for the amount necessary to utilise the entire resources reserved for the fund (€400 million).
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 (version updated as at 10/06/2024) 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 Digital Transition Fund are as described in the FAQ section.