UNQUOTE.COM – November 8, 2012  - http://www.unquote.com/unquote/analysis/2223301/southern-italian-vcs-shaping-the-industrys-future?WT.rss_f=Southern+europe+-+Region&WT.rss_a=Southern+Italian+VCs+shaping+the+industry’s+future
[…] The recent opening of 56CUBE, a replica of Milanese incubator Digital Magics with a focus on southern Italy, could be an important sign of the developing ecosystem
No stone uncovered
What’s more, these incubators are an important source of dealflow in a less developed VC market. “There are so many opportunities in southern Italy, but you have to discover them because they are hidden,” says Agostini. “So working with a network of universities and research centres, as well as incubators is important and the main route of sourcing our funding targets,” he adds. “The VC industry is so small that if a guy from the south wants to interact with a venture capitalist, he knows who to contact. We see a fair amount of self-candidacy, which shows that the southern Italian market is active and alive, not dead at all. In fact, it is more active on the start-up side than the north.” Gennaro Tesone, the founder and CEO of 56CUBE, a recently-launched venture incubator in the south of Italy, agrees: “There are so many opportunities and so few VCs to take them!”
When it comes to venture capital, southern Italy then is not as underserved as people may think. “It is not true that the southern Italian venture capital market is underdeveloped compared to the north,” says Tesone. “In fact, if we consider the venture capital segment, not the private equity one, it turns out that nowadays at least 50% of investments are focused on the south, due to the national policy to promote investments in the specific area launched some years ago.” […]
