A venture capital fund backing entrepreneurs with Italian roots and global ambitions.

Italian Founders Fund

Italian Founders Fund is Italy's first venture capital fund established by founders, for founders. We've united over 100 experienced entrepreneurs to build the premier founder-backed VC community, actively supporting Italy’s next generation of exceptional talent and digital innovation.

IFF leads or follows in pre-seed & seed rounds with high conviction, facilitates access to international capital, and invests in later-stage companies looking to expand into Italy.

IFF is the founders’ fund that the best Italian entrepreneurs want and deserve.

If you’re a visionary founder ready to make a global impact, we want to hear from you!

Last night we watched the sun set over the Duomo; today, we’re celebrating the sun rising on a new day in Italian venture capital.

The occasion? Italian Founders Fund has reached its first goal of closing €50m, money that is being invested in founders, by founders.

It’s a moment that has been a year in the making, and we are so proud to have gotten here while confirming that our original intentions are shared by a range of great investors and operators. Everyone at IFF believes that the next generation of great Italian founders is out there, bound together by their:

🚀 Unlimited ambition and global mindset 
🥇 Exceptional and passionate teams
⚖️ Extreme transparency
💪 No fear to fail and iterate

For those who see themselves in our mission and our goals, here’s what we offer:

💰€500k to €1.5m initial investment
🧑‍💻 Active support from our operating team and founder community
⚡️ Founder-friendly terms and conditions (we’ve been on the other side!)
🏎️ Speed and transparency

🇮🇹 IT’s time to get moving - onward! 🇮🇹

Lorenzo Franzi Ascanio Orombelli Alessandra Santi Monica Conti

Thank you, TechCrunch! 🚀

We are proud to #officiallylaunch today! Bringing together over 100 founders and entrepreneurs under a #sharedgoal: to empower Italy’s next generation of exceptional talent and digital innovation. 

Thank you to everyone that made this possible!

Lorenzo Franzi Ascanio Orombelli Alessandra Santi Monica Conti Francesco Fumagalli Marco Morgese Marco Airoldi

#Innovation #VentureCapital #Italy #Startup #Entrepreneurship

Lorenzo Franzi and the Italian Founders Fund. Congratulations! <3

This week, Lorenzo and his team launched the Italian Founders Fund. They brought together over 100 founders and entrepreneurs, pooling €50M to support the next generation. It’s a big deal for Italian entrepreneurship. 

He has watched the Italian market with Global Founders Capital for three years. He has seen tremendous progress, met many talented people, and met ambitious new founders. Now, they're building the next wave of tech companies and putting Italy on the venture capital map.

The pay-it-forward model—where experienced founders help the new generation—has worked in many places. Lorenzo and his team are making it happen in Italy with the Italian Founders Fund. 

They’re looking to work with angels and local investors. They're also excited about the growing interest from international investors. Their goal? Support Italian founders abroad and welcome foreign ventures to Italy.

#ItalianFoundersFund #VC #Tech #Entrepreneurship #Italy #Innovation

One pillar of our fund is our venture founder #community, which is a huge asset for the companies we invest in. 

So at our launch event on Monday, we asked those experienced founders what exactly it was about IFF that made them say, “Yes, I want to be part of this!” Here are a few of the responses:

“We’re stronger together - the community is so large that I find myself in a fund with not just friends but even competitors, and that’s OK! The community is wonderful to see, and you’re doing a great job with it.”

“It was initially a recommendation, and I expected to be putting my money in a traditional VC fund. But what I’ve found is incredible, there’s just so much engagement.”

“We all have lots of other things going on, but IFF gives us the chance to get involved where we can, even with time constraints. It’s built on the right idea.”

“Italy finally has a focused early-stage fund with an international approach to doing things!”

And the good news for the companies we invest in over the coming years? The community is growing, compounding the value of being in the IFF network 💪💪

#WeAreFounders #Innovation #VentureCapital #IFF

Some of the founders Venture Founders who are part of this initiative:
Giuseppe Amitrano (Dils), Gabriele Antonelli (SpazioDati), Marcello Ascani (Flatmates Agency), Alessandro Ballerio (Elmec Informatica), Paolo Barletta (Arsenale Group), Francesco Beraldi (O2e), Ludovico Callerio (Testbusters), Fabio Cannavale (lastminute.com), Michele Casucci (Certilogo), Andrea Colombo (Tulou), Matteo de Brabant (JAKALA), Paolo De Nadai (WeRoad), Marco De Rossi (WeSchool), Riccardo Donadon (H-Farm), Luca Ferrari (Bending Spoons), Luca Foresti (Santagostino), Alessandro Fracassi (Moltiply), Marco Franciosa (Next 14), Francesco Fumagalli (Koinos Capital), Andrea Giannangelo (iubenda), Enrico Giacomelli (Namirial), Carlo Gualandri (Soldo), Danilo Iervolino (Multiversity), Matteo Lai (Empatica), Elena Lanati (Indicon), Marco Magnocavallo (Tannico), Simone Mancini (Scalapay), Roberto Marazzini (Boolean Careers), Luca Mascaro (Sketchin), Giuliano Messina (SosTariffe), Andrea Mignanelli (Cerved Group), Giacomo Moiso (Fluentify), Roberto Nicastro (Banca Aidexa), Diego Palano (Spiagge.it), Daniele Perito (Faire), Jacopo Pertile (AzzurroDigitale), Marco Pescarmona (Moltiply), Stefano Portu (ShopFully), Ivan Ranza (Epicode), Daniele Ratti (Fatture in Cloud), Donato Romano (La Piadineria), Luca Rossettini (D-Orbit), Enrico Saraval (Comdata), Federico Sargenti (Everli), Stefano Sirolli (RealStep), Davide Tavaniello (Hippocrates Holding), Paolo Tramonti (Bios Line), Fabio Troiani (BIP), Marco Trombetti (Translated), Marco Vittorelli (Openjobmetis), Francesco Zaccariello (Atida eFarma), Riccardo Zacconi (King.com), Giada Dattoli Zhang (Mulan Group).

We just announced IFF’s first €50m fund, and we are proud to say that our first investment has apparently been the worst-kept secret in the Italian startup ecosystem! (😉 Amy Lewin)

But for those of you who haven’t heard, without further ado, we’d like to introduce Marco and Francesco, Co-Founders of Jet HR - 💻 Payroll made simple 💸

In the team, the IFF found kindred spirits: we’re both dedicated to helping companies have better outcomes and more growth. IFF does it by funding ambitious entrepreneurs, while Jet HR does it by making it easier for companies to do business in Italy by reducing bureaucratic inefficiencies.

Marco and Francesco know how to win over both experienced founders and small business owners, thanks to their passion and ability to execute. If you think your HR processes are a headache, give them a follow and check out Jet HR - we’re glad we did 😉

#WeAreFounders #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #Startup #VentureCapital

Just like in a #startup, the core team at a fund is critical.

There’s a ton of things to do and everyone involved has to be able to learn, adjust, and execute.

With IFF, we’ve been very excited to pull together the group that has gotten us not just to our first €50m fund milestone, which was announced earlier this week, but also to our first few completed investments (we’ll talk some more about that later this week).

Lorenzo Franzi - Founding Partner - leading the charge from the beginning, fueled by top international experiences in both startups and VC
Ascanio Orombelli - Senior Investment Manager - supercharging the IFF deal flow
Alessandra Santi - Investment Analyst - deal analysis and head of community management
Monica Conti - Fund Admin - investor and founder relations

Of course, the core is never alone: from everyone at our investment home, Koinos Capital SGR, to our venture founders, to our new portfolio founders and their teams, IFF is built on the strength of a driven, ambitious community. 

And with the first €50m in funding already being deployed, needless to say, we’re looking forward to what’s to come 😎

#WeAreFounders #Innovation #VentureCapital #Entrepreneurship #Italy #Startup

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