Equity Puglia. The first four Alternative Investment Fund managers selected. Delli Noci: “Great interest from investors. We will increase the budget"

National interest in Equity Puglia, the financial instrument designed to foster the growth of innovative startups and SMEs through access to the capital market, is booming. This highly innovative regional measure, among the first of its kind in Italy, has sparked such a flood of requests that a second edition is now being considered.

Thus, just one month after the signing of the financing agreements between Puglia Sviluppo and the asset management companies (SGRs)—AVM Gestioni, Eureka! Venture, Indaco Venture Partners, and Vertis—which will manage the investment and co-investment funds, the financial instrument promoted by the Puglia Region and implemented by the in-house regional financial company Puglia Sviluppo, was presented to the Chamber of Deputies.

The initiative, launched by Claudio Stefanazzi, a member of the Democratic Party (PD) for Puglia and a member of the Finance Committee, was presented by Alessandro Delli Noci, Councilor for Economic Development of the Puglia Region; Antonio De Vito, Director General of Puglia Sviluppo; and representatives of the four asset management companies (SGRs) bidding to manage the funds: Amedeo Giurazza, CEO of Vertis; Stefano Peroncini, CEO of Eureka! Venture; Elizabeth Robinson, Vice President of Indaco Venture Partners; and Alberto Stanghellini, CEO of AVM Gestioni. The conference concluded with a speech by Giulio Centemero, a member of the League party and the first signatory of the "Start-Up" bill recently approved by Parliament.

The financial instrument provides €80 million (€40 million of which comes from public resources and €40 million from private resources) to startups and innovative SMEs intending to invest in Puglia. The goal is to develop the Apulian ecosystem in strategic sectors such as aerospace, agribusiness, the green and blue economy, biotechnology, IT, artificial intelligence, energy transition and digital transformation, mechatronics, robotics, healthcare, and innovation applied to infrastructure and industry.

The implementation of this tool has generated considerable excitement and drawn the attention of Italian and international startups and innovative SMEs to Puglia, necessitating a national launch of the initiative.