Venture Capital, a solid ecosystem in Italia. The challenge now is abroad
P101 report: ten billion collected in ten years, of which 7.5 billion in the last five years. Italia grows (+17%) against the European trend
The venture capital market in Italia continues to grow: in 2025 P101 (one of the leading fund managers in the sector) recorded a 17% increase in investments, which rose to EUR 1.4 billion, for a total of more than EUR 10 billion invested in start-ups in the last 10 years, of which EUR 7.5 billion have been in the last five.
This is in contrast to the European market (-3%), which stands at 60 billion, while the US market jumps 44% to 285 billion, reads the tenth edition of the Report 'State of Italian VC', P101's analysis of the evolution of the Italian innovation industry.
The consolidation of an ecosystem
But more than on the numbers, which undoubtedly outline a trajectory of constant growth and affirmation of this system, it is on how much the numbers tell us in terms of the quality of the system that Andrea Di Camillo, founder and managing partner of P101, emphasises. "When we started out, in 2013, it was hard to find accountants or notaries who knew how to manage operations and activities related to Venture Capital and satrt up. Today in Italia there is a structured and recognised ecosystem that supports innovation: there is training in universities, there are professionals, there is capital, in various forms'. There are also new aspirations in young people, who increasingly want to start new businesses and who can now find various tools to do so. 'Today, opening a start-up is an option,' adds Di Camillo. 'This is where we are, a good point I would say, and from here we will not go back'.
The P101 Report photographs an ecosystem that today counts more than 14 thousand innovative enterprises (including almost 12 thousand start-ups), which in 2025 generated a production value of 10 billion euros and employed about 62 thousand people. Of these, about one third work in start-ups, which alone recorded a production value of around EUR 2.4 billion last year.
The steps to 'gain relevance'
However, there is still a long way to go: although Italia is Europe's fourth largest economy, it ranks third last in Europe in terms of per capita investment in VC (EUR 127 in 2025). And it ranks tenth in terms of overall investment: in the last five years, VC has invested around €370 billion in Europe, a third of which is attributable to the United Kingdom (€120 billion), followed by France (€51 billion) and Germany (€50 billion).
