Italian startuppers: you have a chance to live the American dream
This evening 12 young Italian entrepreneurs will try to convince US business leaders to invest in their projects
Lights up. This evening (November, 28th), the Italian Business & Investment Initiative 4th edition will be held at Loeb & Loeb Llp, one of the most prestigious law firms in the United States.
What's new? US investors will take part to the event: business angels and finance leaders ready to pour money into new Italian enterprises.
"This formula is working. Over the past two years, in collaboration with Mind the Bridge, we have been able to "export" over 60 start ups that are active in the most different fields, with a overall financing amounting to $ 5 million," Fernando Napolitano explains.
Napolitano, 48 years old, is founder of "Why Italy Matters Corp.," a company aimed at promoting the best of the Italian high-tech industry in the US through the "Italian Business & Investment Initiative" project.
Several relevant partners have joined this initiative so far such as "Mind the Bridge", one of the most active talent scouts; Innogest Sgr., the biggest Italian fund for start ups, and Intesa SanPaolo, that has an almost unlimited portfolio of newly established companies.
The Fulbright Best Italia program is also involved in the project, by granting scholarships to the most talented young people and offering them training courses and work experience at US start ups.
"We have selected 12 projects to be presented in New York, this time" Napolitano explains. Among these Artistfan, an idea of Fabrizio Scotti aimed at giving musicians the opportunity to circulate music, videos and concerts bypassing the traditional distribution.
"This has been the first project I decided to finance through the Italian Business & Investment Initiative" said Napolitano, who only few months ago also invested in "Mind the Seed", an "early stage" venture capital fund for start ups.
Among the financial supporters of "Mind the Seed" are several giants of the Italian industry such as Francesco Starace (Enel Green Power), Giovanni Perissinotto (former Generali), Fedele Confalonieri (Mediaset.)
"On Noveember 28, each of the 12 selected young entrepreneurs will have just a few minutes to describe their project and convince business leaders to invest in it," Napolitano adds. "I am sure that they have what it takes to play their cards right. "
