The Startup Ecosystem of Italy

Italy has 26 cities in the top 1000 and has a vibrant startup scene that ranks 30th within the competitive global top 30.

COUNTRY RANKING

Italy’s startup scene saw an increase in 2023 and jumped 1 spot from the previous year, outranking New Zealand.

Population

58.9
Million

Regional Ranking

15th
0
In Western Europe

Global Ranking

30th
+
1
Worldwide

Ecosystem

Startup Ecosystem Overview

aerial photography of city
Italy has a strong tradition of entrepreneurship: from high-quality leather goods to aerospace, from apparel to med-tech, from agro-food to industrial automation. This entrepreneurial mindset might be a contributing factor in developing the startup scene, spurring increased activity and attracting startup stakeholders. While many startups exist in cities such as Turin, Bologna, Naples, and Rome, Milan is typically seen as a bigger ecosystem due to its commercial mentality and a significant number of VC funds.


The economy is largely export-driven, and the local startup ecosystem has still not managed to substantially contribute to the economy. Other challenges that the Italian startup ecosystems face are: building a more favorable regulatory environment to stimulate startups, improving tax policies, encouraging greater involvement of the private sector (SMEs in particular), establishing a stronger global outlook, and simplifying the bureaucratic process, which is currently among the heaviest burdens that startups have to face.

Italian public sector ecosystem developers are much less active than in other European nations, but some initiatives are changing that. In 2020, the Italian government sponsored an investment program aimed at the native startup ecosystem, creating a new venture arm: CDP Venture Capital. Additionally, the Ministry of Economic Development launched The Italian Startup Act, which reorients existing legislation to incentivize Italian startup formation with tools like tax breaks on early-stage investments and R&D credits, as well as a startup visa to attract foreign talent.

Italy will need to implement reforms faster to stop founders from moving their headquarters elsewhere. On the other hand, it is encouraging to see that startup founders have a large and increasingly talented labor pool. Italy boasts an extensive network of high-quality universities (300,000 graduates per year), as well as science and technology parks. In addition, the country has proved its capacity to breed unicorns as seen in the case of Scalapay’s valuation of more than US$ 1 billion in 2022.

With Italy joining the unicorn club, we expect further acceleration of its ecosystem growth in the years to come.

Startups

Italy Top Startup Industries

Energy & Environment icon
Energy & Environment
#22 worldwide

309 startups

Social & Leisure icon
Social & Leisure
#23 worldwide

142 startups

Ecommerce & Retail icon
Ecommerce & Retail
#24 worldwide

113 startups

Ecosystem HealthCheck

Italy Ecosystem Health Check

The health check tables allow you to look at the performance Italy has in each of the parameters that are part of StartupBlink's ranking algorithm. There are five tables, corresponding to the three subscores, the subscore analysis and industry ana...

  • Overperformance
  • Performance equal to global ranking
  • Underperformance
ParameterParameter Global rankParameter rank change since 2022ResultContribution to total scoreRank gain / loss due to parameter
Total Score3017.897100%0
Quantity Score21-22.6733.82%4
Sample size of startups170101533.49%5
Sample size of accelerators91770%0
Sample size of coworking spaces1314280%1
Community Score57N/A0.0260.33%0

ECOSYSTEM

Browse the startup ecosystem database of Italy

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Ecosystem

The Startup Ecosystem in Italy

Our startup ecosystem map for Italy includes a sample of 1074 tech companies. We have identified as unicorns 2 startups that have passed the USD 1 billion valuations.

Global Rank

Italy is ranked within the top 40 startup ecosystems globally.

Top Industries

Italy’s startup scene is best represented in Energy & Environment, Social & Leisure, and in Ecommerce & and Retail.

Top Cities for Startups in Italy - Ranked by StartupBlink
StartupBlink ranks the startup ecosystems of 100 countries and 1,000 cities. Download our latest Global Startup Ecosystem Report.
Rows:
2023 National Rank & Change ▲
2023 National Rank & Change City
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Global Rank & ChangeTotal Score
Access subscores for 1000 cities and 100 countries
Quantity Score
Quality ScoreBusiness Score
1st
0
66th
-
1
9.887
00.00
00.00
00.00
2nd
0
167th
-
24
3.808
00.00
00.00
00.00
3rd
0
262nd
+
11
1.758
00.00
00.00
00.00
4th
0
313th
+
8
1.248
00.00
00.00
00.00
5th
0
333rd
+
1
1.133
00.00
00.00
00.00
6th
0
455th
+
23
0.641
00.00
00.00
00.00
7th
+
2
541st
-
16
0.430
00.00
00.00
00.00
8th
-
1
547th
-
39
0.423
00.00
00.00
00.00
9th
+
1
555th
-
20
0.410
00.00
00.00
00.00
10th
+
1
597th
-
56
0.357
00.00
00.00
00.00
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Startups

Notable Startups in Italy
Prima.it startup icon
Prima.it
MoneyFarm startup icon
MoneyFarm
Everli startup icon
Everli

Startups

Successful Energy & Environment startups in Italy
Treedom startup icon
Treedom
Energy Dome startup icon
Energy Dome
Enapter startup icon
Enapter

Featured Startup Ecosystems

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