The proceedings, introduced by the Chairman of Neva Sgr, Luca Remmert, and the Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo, Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, involved the alternation of speakers who, in their speeches on banking, finance and innovation, provided a comprehensive view of the Italian and international venture capital landscape.

Neva Sgr presented a highly qualified audience its results achieved so far, such as the successful fund-raising of the €250 million Neva First Fund, dedicated to investments in highly innovative companies the world over, which has met with interest from both Italian and foreign institutional investors and numerous Italian entrepreneurial families. Neva Sgr also presented its development plans for the future, which include the launch of a new, larger fund scheduled for 2024.

Since August 2020 Neva Sgr has invested in 26 companies with an allocated total of approximately €150 million. Among the many deals closed, today on the OGR stage presentations were given by five start-up founders that well represent the composition of Neva’s portfolio: Giorgio Tinacci, founder and CEO of Casavo (Europe’s first instant buyer for online home sales); Luca Rossettini, founder and CEO of D-Orbit (Italian company and world leader in logistics for the space economy); David Rutter, founder and CEO of US-based R3 (leading company in blockchain - distributed ledger technology); Maria Grazia Roncarolo, Italian researcher, recognised as one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of genetic therapies, founder of Tr1X (universal cell therapies for autoimmune diseases); and Dror Liwer, founder of the Israeli Coro (artificial intelligence-based cybersecurity for SMEs).

"The success of Neva First Fund fund-raising and the large turnout at today’s event confirm the interest in venture capital in Italy," underscored Mario Costantini, CEO and General Manager of Neva Sgr. "In just a few years, thanks to Intesa Sanpaolo’s support and cooperation with other Group companies, we have developed a valuable network of relationships with all Italian funds, numerous international funds, researchers and experts. Even in today’s very complex market environment, our portfolio, which is highly diversified by geographical area and sector, continues its positive growth trend. Today, more than ever before, we see investment opportunities in good companies at more reasonable prices than in the past. Our first objective is to guarantee high returns to subscribers through dynamic capital allocation. We only reward entrepreneurs who are able to manage increasing complexity while remaining prudent and pragmatic."

"We are very satisfied with the progress made so far by our subsidiary Neva Sgr and, thanks to the collaboration between our teams, we will soon launch the new fund SEI - Innovation Ecosystem Development," commented Maurizio Montagnese, Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center. "The funds that Neva Sgr is committed to promoting have as their main objective providing a financial return for their investors and this, in some cases, leads to prudent management of the company so as not to allocate capital in still ’immature’ organisations, as younger start-ups may be. The new SEI Fund, with initial assets of €15 million fully subscribed by Intesa Sanpaolo, was created to support the growth of the Italian innovation ecosystem through targeted investments in vehicles the primary objective of which is the implementation of research, selection, acceleration and professionalisation programmes for promising start-ups."

"Within the next two years, we will complete the investments for the composition of the portfolios of Neva First and Neva First Italia, the fund dedicated exclusively to Italian and European start-ups active in research, development and production in Italy, anticipating the end of the investment period," commented Luca Remmert, Chairman of Neva Sgr. "In addition to the launch of the SEI Fund with Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, we plan to prepare a new, larger Neva Fund that we will launch in 2024, which will benefit from our growing international relationships with funds, institutional investors and researchers. In order to better meet the needs of increasingly numerous investors and partners, we will expand our team by also attracting new talent from abroad, and we will strive to spread a culture of venture capital in Italy to further accelerate the country’s growth."