Equity Puglia. The latest news on the financial instrument presented at Montecitorio. “Great interest from businesses. Towards a second edition”

National interest in Equity Puglia is exploding , the financial instrument designed to promote the growth of startups and innovative SMEs through access to the capital market. The highly innovative regional measure, among the first of its kind in Italy, has triggered such a flow of requests that it is making us think concretely about a second edition.

Thus, just one month after the signing of the financing agreements between Puglia Sviluppo and the Savings Management Companies ( SGR ) - AVM Gestioni, Eureka! Venture, Indaco Venture Partners , Vertis - which will manage the investment and co-investment funds , the financial instrument desired by the Puglia Region and created by the in-house and regional financial company Puglia Sviluppo, was presented in Montecitorio.

The initiative launched by Claudio Stefanazzi , deputy of the Democratic Party of Puglia and member of the Finance Commission, was illustrated by the Councilor for Economic Development of the Puglia Region Alessandro Delli Noci, by the general director of Puglia Sviluppo Antonio De Vito and by the representatives of the four Sgr candidates for the management of the funds: Amedeo Giurazza , CEO of Vertis ; Stefano Peroncini , CEO of Eureka! Venture; Elizabeth Robinson, vice president of Indaco Venture Partners ; Alberto Stanghellini - CEO of AVM Gestioni. The conference was concluded by the speech of Giulio Centemero, deputy of the League and first signatory of the “ Start-Up” bill, recently approved by Parliament.

The financial instrument makes available to startups and innovative SMEs that intend to invest in Puglia, 80 million euros (of which 40 million public resources and 40 million private resources). The objective is the development of the Puglia ecosystem in strategic sectors such as aerospace, agro-industry, green and blue economy, biotechnology, IT , artificial intelligence, energy transition and digital transformation, mechatronics, robotics, healthcare , innovation applied to infrastructure and industry.

The activation of the tool has caused a great deal of excitement and has focused the attention of national and foreign startups and innovative SMEs on Puglia, so much so that a national launch of the initiative has become necessary.

“Puglia wants to confirm itself as a land of development and innovation and with the birth of Equity it adds another arrow to its bow”. This is what Claudio Stefanazzi , deputy of the Democratic Party and member of the Finance Commission at Montecitorio, said. “We are among the first in Italy to support and stimulate the creation and growth of startups and innovative businesses. Unfortunately, however, many entrepreneurial projects are unable to fully express their potential due to a financial culture that is still much more oriented towards savings than high-risk investments. Thanks to Equity and the agreements signed with the four Sgr , Puglia is trying to fill this gap and spread the use of venture capital”.

“Even if we often forget it,” said Giulio Centemero , a member of the Lega party and a member of the Finance Commission, “ours is a country with multilevel governance. This type of initiative shows how autonomies and intermediate bodies can be drivers of economic development.”

“By implementing a tool like Equity Puglia that has a strong impact on innovation and at the same time on the growth of startups and innovative SMEs – said the Councilor for Economic Development of the Puglia Region Alessandro Delli Noci – we have generated attention that will soon turn into an attraction of investments in Puglia, while at the same time encouraging a reshoring and brain drain action. A return that, considering the peculiarity of the initiative, we would not have imagined so significant. This is why we are thinking of coming out with a second edition of Equity . In this way we will consolidate the path by creating new growth opportunities for our startups and innovative small and medium-sized enterprises to the point of impacting their competitive potential not only at a national level but also and above all on foreign markets”.

“ Equity Puglia is a complementary tool to other regional incentive measures for businesses,” added the general manager of Puglia Sviluppo Antonio De Vito . “Our company manages various incentive tools. On the one hand, we facilitate businesses, on the other, we support them financially. This interaction between contributions and financial tools is also appreciated outside Puglia; in fact, almost 60% of startups that intercept our tools do not belong to the regional context. The measures of the new programming have been operational for less than nine months and businesses have already presented projects for more than 1 billion and 100 million euros. A sign of appreciation for an offer of diversified and flexible tools that have also been able to adapt to the general economic context.”

Equity Puglia is a financial instrument that involves several phases for its implementation, the first step was to collect membership proposals from Savings Management Companies ( Sgr ) with a public notice for the purpose of establishing funds in which Puglia Sviluppo will invest. The selection procedure started by Puglia Sviluppo has identified the four Sgr (AVM Gestioni, Eureka! Venture, Indaco Venture Partners , Vertis ). After the signing of the Financing Agreements last month, the Sgr are taking care of starting up the funds and searching for startups and innovative SMEs to invest in. And there are those who are announcing the first investments between December 2024 and February 2025.

“Our participation in the project launched through the Equity Puglia Fund has the ambition to contribute to the growth of local companies, offering the conditions and resources necessary to enable development and an innovation path in line with that of the most important industrial districts,” said Alberto Stanghellini , CEO of AVM Gestioni , Sgr founded by Giovanna Dossena. “AVM strongly believes in the potential of startups and innovative SMEs , and for this reason we have invested in local companies – in Puglia but also in many other Italian regions – that possess the necessary characteristics to become excellences also at a national level, thanks to the integration between the know-how of individual companies and our experience as financial partners.”

“We are thrilled to announce the launch of this venture capital fund dedicated to startups deeptech companies operating in the field of advanced materials, a key sector for technological innovation”, said Stefano Peroncini , CEO of Eureka! Venture . The choice of Puglia is not accidental: a unique ecosystem, characterized by a strong synergy between public institutions such as Puglia Sviluppo, cutting-edge research centers, prestigious universities and an advanced industrial fabric. Our goal is to capitalize on these existing resources, encouraging the development of new innovative companies that can not only benefit from local know-how, but also bring new life and competitiveness to the economic system of the region, thanks also to the scaleup companies already in the portfolio of Eureka! Fund that will be able to open both production plants and advanced research centers in the region”.

“We are working on the launch of the “Indaco Ventures II” fund preparatory to the launch of the parallel fund in Puglia”, announced Elizabeth Robinson , vice president of Indaco Venture Partners . “The team is analyzing many local initiatives, some of which have great innovative potential. In the coming months we will be busy building the pipeline to be ready to seize the most deserving opportunities”.

“ Vertis – underlined the CEO Amedeo Giurazza – is the only Sgr with its main headquarters in the South for over twenty years. It has made the majority of its investments in the South. Two new venture capital funds will soon be operational: one with a focus on the 8 Regions of the South and, thanks to the Equity initiative , another specialized in the Puglia region. Precisely because of this presence in the South, in the last 15 months Vertis has intercepted 345 technological and innovative initiatives in the South, of which 102 are based in Puglia. Of the Puglia initiatives, 24 are in the seed phase , 63 are in the startup phase and 15 are in the scaleup phase . We expect to make the first investments between December 2024 and February 2025”.

How Equity Puglia works

With the financial instrument Equity Puglia, the Region, by virtue of the Financing Agreement stipulated with Puglia Sviluppo, intends to expand the opportunities for access to risk capital financing to encourage the growth and consolidation of innovative startups and SMEs with development programs in the Puglia region.

The regional financial instrument, with a total endowment of 40 million, makes available a total of 80 million euros, between public and private resources.

The recipients of the resources will be the so-called "target companies", i.e. startups and small and medium-sized innovative unlisted companies that may be in the phase of incorporation, starting up their business or developing their product or service. Furthermore, they must already be incorporated, be joint-stock companies and implement their business plan in Puglia.

The tool includes several phases. The first step was to collect with a Public Notice, open from June 28 to October 6, 2023, membership proposals from Savings Management Companies ( Sgr ) for the purpose of establishing funds in which Puglia Sviluppo will invest. The selection procedure started by Puglia Sviluppo has identified four managers: AVM Gestioni, Eureka! Venture, Indaco Venture Partners , Vertis .

The four Sgr have applied to invest 40 million in private resources through their own venture capital funds. To these are added the same number of co- investment funds , fueled by public resources made available by Puglia Sviluppo.

All funds, both private and public, are managed by the Sgr . For this reason, in September 2024, four Financing Agreements were signed, one for each Company, which regulate the relationships between the Sgr and Puglia Sviluppo.

Each Sgr makes 10 million euros available for investments in Puglia (main fund), to which is added the co-investment of Puglia Sviluppo with another 10 million in public resources (co- investment fund ) which supports each of the main funds.

Investments in the “target companies” will be made pari passu , i.e. under the same terms and conditions between the co-investment fund established with public resources and the main fund of the specialized manager. The Financing Agreements will be followed by the relevant regulations.

Once the Financing Agreements have been signed, the Sgrs have started the search for “target companies” in which to make investments to support their medium and long-term development projects. Since these are “ equity ” investments will be in newly issued risk capital.

Companies interested in submitting their application can contact the Savings Management Companies selected by Puglia Sviluppo directly: AVM Gestioni, Eureka! Venture, Indaco Venture Partners , Vertis .