Entrepreneurship

Women and young people, a change of pace is needed in the start-up ecosystem

The average age of the founders is 39, 91% are men. The difficulty of accessing funds persists. Public incentives are an engine for development and employment

by Camilla Colombo and Camilla Curcio

18 November 2025

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

5' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

The snapshot of the start-ups, founded by young people and women in 2025, leaves little doubt as to who is doing innovative entrepreneurship in Italy today and the need for a change of pace that starts from pre-university education and aims to reduce the gender gap. The average age of those founding a start-up is around 39 - for the female universe it is about nine months older, almost as if to remind us of the theme of motherhood here too - and only 9% are women. "The stereotypes still present in our country bind these two categories of entrepreneurs," explains Alessandra Luksch, director of the Startup Thinking Observatories and Digital Transformation Academy, anticipating some data from the research Digital & Open Innovation 2026: what businesses and startups need for a change of pace, which will be presented on 2 December in Milan.

"The youth component is marginal both because there is a tendency to found start-ups after a work experience that has consolidated their reputation on the market and because we suffer from a certain weakness of our ecosystem in equity financing". The analysis conducted by Aifi, in collaboration with PwC Italia, on the first half of 2025 in fact reports that venture capital operations (investments in early-stage, seed, start-up, later-stage companies) decreased by 8% in terms of amount (454 million), while the number ofinvestments increased by 22% (236).

I NUMERI DELL’INNOVAZIONE IN ITALIA

On the female start-up front, there are two interesting and also, to some extent, comforting dynamics: 'Women have a harder time getting funding, but when they do get it, they receive a higher average round than men. Moreover, female startuppers have a higher education: 100 per cent have at least a three-year degree and the proportion of those with a PhD is also higher,' Luksch comments.

The approach of the financiers also reveals curious aspects: while in the case of men previous experience is scrutinised, in the case of women it is required to achieve concrete results immediately. "The motivation that drives women to found start-ups is above all the social impact, while in terms of sectors, it should not be forgotten that the female component is also valid in deep tech," adds Director Luksch, emphasising the founders' commitment to developing role models for the next generation.

Public incentives

To encourage entrepreneurship among women and under-35s, the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy (Mimit) is promoting two incentives, both managed by Invitalia: Smart&Start Italia, which supports the birth and growth of innovative start-ups with high technological content in all regions, and ON - Oltre Nuove imprese a tasso zero, which supports the creation and development of companies with predominantly young or female participants, with active facilities throughout Italy in a mix of zero-interest financing and non-repayable grants.

With the incentives Smart&Start Italia and ON - Oltre Nuove imprese a tasso zero, Invitalia has approved over 3,100 projects, which have generated over €1.4 billion in investments for over €1.1 billion in facilities granted and over 11,800 new jobs. "Thanks to the incentives dedicated to start-ups, Invitalia has contributed to boosting the birth and growth of thousands of innovative companies across the country," comments Luigi Gallo, Head of Incentives and Innovation at Invitalia. "The numbers confirm that public incentives, when targeted and managed with quality-oriented criteria, can become an engine for development and employment. In addition to incentives, Invitalia provides entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs with a package of free and integrated guidance and accompaniment services, ranging from the definition of the project to the submission of the application and support in the growth phase".

Against this backdrop, Friday in Milan will see the VI Meeting 2025 of Sistema Invitalia Startup, the largest institutional innovation network, which now has over 100 members: it includes incubators, accelerators, business angels, trade associations, venture capital funds, agencies and public development finances. Of the more than 9 thousand orientation and accompaniment meetings carried out by Invitalia with 6 thousand entrepreneurial teams, 70% were generated by the partners of the Invitalia Startup System.

Projects funded by Mimit/Invitalia

ReVita - We are Bi-rex

Founded in 2022 by chemists Greta Colombo Dugoni and Monica Ferro and financed by Smart&Start Italia, ReVita was born with a clear objective: to transform what is considered waste into measurable value. And so it is that, by recovering agrifood waste, the Milanese start-up has devised a new model of the circular economy. Beer, rice or citrus fruit residues, pasta by-products, tomato peels become the basis from which to extract cellulose fibres that will be transformed into compostable tableware, paper and cardboard. A process developed and patented in Italy, which reduces CO2 emissions by 70 per cent compared to traditional processes, with water and energy savings of 95 per cent. Having passed the pilot phase and achieved several milestones (such as the launch of the first ReVita disposable paper line), the next step is to change the paradigm of packaging, covering 10% of the paper market within five years.

Joseba Label

A cultural hub, an independent record label and a recording studio. The identikit of Joseba Label, a production centre in its own right where original musical projects come to life, is that of a hybrid where creativity is the common thread. Born from an idea of Nadja Volpentesta, managing director, who now collaborates with Larissa Volpentesta and Giovanni Volpentesta, it is a family project made in Rome incentivised with ON-Other zero-interest new businesses and active on several fronts: from record production to distribution, from the creation of theme songs, jingles and soundtracks for films and docufilms to productions for TV and cinema. Not only that: a member of Fimi, it boasts a rich repertoire of artists and collaborations with the likes of Orietta Berti and Dargen D'Amico. It is also the only label partner of the national "Pythika" project for inclusion, promoted by the Ministry for Disability.

Hypex

A creative software house founded in 2018 in Monopoli and financed by Smart&Start Italia, Hypex specialises in transforming videos into interactive experiences that take the viewer into a dimension where they become protagonists and can manage and control what they see. Thanks to HyperInteractive, the platform conceived and created by its two founders, Riccardo Boccuzzi and Cosimo De Russis, several projects have been developed, mixing art and science, technology and design, storytelling and education: from A night at Castello Sforzesco, designed to let young people explore one of Milan's symbols through the eyes of Leonardo Da Vinci to Itaverso, co-financed by Mimit and created to help high school students choose auniversity course, up to Discis, an interactive escape room to teach physics and chemistry to high school students, and Metamuseo Cinemaddosso, a virtual environment designed to divulge the history of Italian film costumes.