« Go back Italy invests in Food & Agriculture start-ups
An analysis by Growth Capital highlighted that in the first 11 months of 2023, a total of 28 deals (out of 257) and EUR 95.7 million were invested in Italian start-ups in the Food & Agriculture sector, driven by the North, with EUR 86 million raised, and attracting more than half of the capital (EUR 49.6 million) were start-ups operating in the Vertical Farming sector. There are also 7 million investments related to the Alternative Protein vertical, i.e., alternative proteins to meat and of plant origin.
Growth Capital is a leading tech investment bank in the Venture Capital ecosystem and returns a snapshot of one of the most important and interesting VC sectors in Italy, considering data between January and November 2023.
"Looking at Italian Venture Capital in 2023, it emerges that one out of every ten investment rounds is related to the Food & Agriculture sector. The number of rounds completed this year in the sector is in line with that of 2022 (29) and in general with the historical average (25) from 2018 to date, highlighting the constant interest despite market turbulence. The drop in the amount invested, which stood at €148.3m in 2022, can be attributed to the general trends observed in the ecosystem, namely a scarcity of late-stage rounds and an increase in pre-seed rounds” recounts Andrea Casati, Vice President of Growth Capital.
Looking at individual sectors, Food Retail ranks first (28% of the total), followed by Vertical Farming and Alternative Protein, with four rounds each. Securing the largest funding in the sector during 2023 was Planet Farms, a company in the controlled environment farming sector, which in November made a new capital injection of EUR 36.7m to support the company's expansion in Italy and the UK.
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