# Top 50 Payments Startup Investors in Italy in May 2026 ## United Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 6 - Stages: Series A, Seed - Focus: Software, Financial Services, FinTech We are an independent Venture Capitalfirm supporting visionary entrepreneurs toreinvent industries through technology. ## CRiF - Type: VC Fund - Location: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Blockchain CRIF offers credit bureau services, business information, analytics and decisioning, consultancy to support finance, insurance, utility and service companies of the customer relationship cycle. ## Banca Sella Holding - Type: VC Fund - Location: Biella, Piemonte, Italy - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed - Focus: FinTech, Payments, SaaS Banca Sella Holding is a holding company based in Italy. It provides services that include management, coordination, control, trading, and treasury activities of financial sectors through its subsidiaries. The company's banking products and services also consists of various deposits, as well as repurchase agreements, mortgage loans, personalloans, factoring, and Internet and mobile banking services. ## Luca Ascani - Type: Angel - Location: Rome, Lazio, Italy - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services Luca is founder and CEO of Lambda Alpha, an investment company focused on early stage investment. Its portfolio includes Bear, the Apple Design Award winner notes app, Fintechs as Lendable and Emma App in London, Mansa in Paris and ScalaPay as well as autonomous robots Gideon Brothers and automated pasta restaurant Cala. Recent investmentsincludes Dishpatch, Airbank and RVVUP. Luca started his entrepreneurial career aged 20 when he launched BuyCentral.it, the first Italian shopping comparison site, in 2000. It was sold to Lycos in 2004. In 2002 he founded ADVance which became the leading digital agency in Italy, subsequently sold to NetBooster. In 2004 he cofounded GoAdv, later rebranded Populis, one of the largest vertical digital publishing groups in Europe and Brazil, listed on the Paris Alternext stock exchange. In 2011 Populis was named the fastest growing company in Ireland and part of the top ten in Europe by Deloitte. In 2012 and 2013 he has brought the TechCrunch conference to Italy with the aim of connecting the Italian industry with international investors. For this same purpose he was co-hosting the 2017 Founders Forum in Rome.From 2010 Luca was in the board of IlSecoloXIX, an Italian north west leading newspaper, then acquired by LaStampa in 2014 and he was in the board of the new group, ITEDI, until it was acquired by Gruppo Espresso in 2017. ## Ithaca Investments - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milano, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Financial Services, E-Commerce, Internet Ithaca Investments is a Family Investment Office firm mainly focused on early-stage opportunities. ## Fasanara Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Debt Financing, Seed - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, E-Commerce FASANARA CAPITAL is an independent, owner-managed alternative asset management company authorized and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Co-founded by CEO Francesco Filia in 2011, Fasanara is based in London with alliance offices in Milan. ## Max Ciociola - Type: Angel - Location: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: SaaS, FinTech, Consumer Product-focused, balance-sheet driven entrepreneur with a 20+ year track record in pioneering, launching and growing profitable businesses in the mobile and media space with broad experience in product, business, and content development for the digital space. Max is founder and CEO of Musixmatch, the World's Largest Lyrics Catalog and MusicAI Company with +70 Mln of users in the world. Musixmatch uses Deep Learning and AI techniques to provide lyrics and language data to most of music digital streaming companies. As first mover in the mobile space Max started in early 1998 with Wireless Solutions, a multi media mobile gateway platform for delivering contents in more than 100 countries over 300 mobile carriers. He then sold his company to Dada, an italian media company, and he spent 7 years with Dada first as CEO Dada Iberia & Latam e then as EVP Mobile Services, leading a team of +100 people and +80 mln yearly turnover. Max is the co founder of AI Labs, an R&D AI Lab in Italy active on Technology Transfer on AI. ## InReach Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, E-Learning InReach Ventures builds its own proprietary software and AI to discover and invest in the best early-stage startups from all over Europe. ## Baleen Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Information Technology, Financial Services, Credit Baleen Capital is a value-based investment firm that seeks to invest in exceptional people, products, and companies. ## CDP Venture Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Rome, Lazio, Italy - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Health Care, Information Technology CDP Venture Capital Sgr - National Innovation Fund aims to make venture capital a cornerstone of the country's economic development and innovation, creating the conditions for an overall and sustainable growth of the venture capital ecosystem. ## Fondazione Golinelli - Type: VC Fund - Location: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, AgTech Fondazione Golinelli was born in Bologna in 1988 by the will of the entrepreneur and philanthropist Marino Golinelli with the aim to promote education and training, to promote the culture, to foster intellectual growth and ethics of young people, the citizens of tomorrow. ## Pietro Invernizzi - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, FinTech, Payments Pietro Invernizzi is the Investor Stride.VC. Attended King's College London. ## Nick Carbonari - Type: Angel - Location: Munich, Bayern, Germany - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Apps, Banking, FinTech Nick Carbonari is the Founder, CEO, and Chairman at eezylife Inc. ## David García - Type: Angel - Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FinTech Former Entrepreneur, Investor and current Founder & Managing Partner at Algo Capital. ## LDA Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Los Angeles, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Private Equity, Post-IPO Equity - Focus: Blockchain, Information Technology, Software LDA Capital is an alternative investment group focused on investing in the global private and public markets. Their firm provides capital solutions to companies seeking financing in underserved markets and in complex conditions on a global basis. Our team has executed over $5 billion in transactions across 42 countries over the last 10 years. ## Club Italia Investimenti 2 - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: E-Commerce, Software, Mobile Club Italia Investimenti is a Milan-based venture capital firm that assists startups in raising seed capital. ## R-301 Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Lugano, Ticino, Switzerland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Convertible Note - Focus: E-Commerce, Delivery Service, Automotive R-301 Capital They are an independent technology venture capital firm. They invest in early stage busineses leveraging disruptive web and mobile technologies in a variety of sectors. As experienced tech entrepreneurs They combine expertise with cash to best support Their portfolio companies. They move quickly and decisevily in funding innovatorsThey believe in. ## Valhalla Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Potomac, Maryland, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Initial Coin Offering, Series B - Focus: Blockchain, Financial Services, FinTech Valhalla Capital makes strategic investments and provides long-term support to some of the most promising start-ups in the space. Whether that’s helping with team formation, capital introductions, tokenomics design and review, or go-to-market strategy, we’ll be here, rolling up our sleeves to take our teams to the next level. ## Polymorphic Capital - Type: VC Fund - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FinTech It is a venture capital firm that selectively invests in extraordinary teams and emerging paradigms in blockchain and fintech globally. ## Italian Angels for Growth - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, Health Care IAG is an angel investor network that offers access to its affiliates to early-stage venture opportunities. Its members to date have deployed over 22 million Euros to support 41 startups in the series seed/series A stage in many verticals, among which: Medtech, SAAS, e-commerce, Fintech, and high tech at large. Every investment opportunityat IAG is vetted by a professional team together with expert members of the group. Once invested, the company receives the support of up to two Investment champions, who bring their expertise to the table and help them succeed. ## Tiger Global Management - Type: VC Fund - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series B, Series A, Series C - Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services Tiger Global Management is an investment firm that deploys capital globally.Tiger Global seeks to earn superior risk-adjusted returns for its investors over the long term. The firm’s fundamentally oriented investments focus primarily on the global Internet, technology, telecom, media consumer, and industrial sectors. The private equity strategyhas a ten-year investment horizon and targets growth-oriented private companies. The public equity efforts emphasize deep due diligence on individual companies and long-term secular themes. ## Principia SGR - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Seed - Focus: Health Care, Biotechnology, Software Principia is an Italian Venture Capital firm with over Eur 80M under management. Currently Principia has two funds investing in digital start ups and expansion capital opportunities and in particular cases, we invest also in seed opportunities. ## Banca Sella Group - Type: VC Fund - Location: Biella, Piemonte, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Finance The Banca Sella Group boasts a history that is now more than a century old, followed by the common thread of the principles and values ​​inspired directly by its founders. In this section we outline the Group profile and its main stages. ## Intermedia Iniziative - Type: VC Fund - Location: Firenze, Toscana, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Banking, FinTech, Payments Intermedia Iniziative is a consulting and equity investment firm. ## Valar Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Banking Valar Ventures is a venture capital firm backed by Peter Thiel. Valar partners with entrepreneurs globally and believes that an increasing number of transformative technology companies will be started outside of Silicon Valley, and that the founders of those companies will benefit from having a partner that understands their unique challenges andopportunities. ## SquareOne Venture Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, SaaS, Machine Learning We invest in B2B tech entrepreneurs who are obsessed with solving complex problems in huge markets at pre-seed and seed stage ## Anna Siccardi - Type: Angel - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, SaaS, Retail Anna Siccardi - Advisor & Investor @ GrowishPay ## Sygnum - Type: VC Fund - Location: Zürich, Zurich, Switzerland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Corporate Round, Series A - Focus: FinTech, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency Sygnum is Digital Asset Bank, founded on Swiss and Singapore heritage, operating globally.Rooted in two of the world’s leading financial hubs, Switzerland and Singapore, they empower institutional and private qualified investors, corporates, banks and other financial institutions to invest in the digital asset economy with complete trust.Sygnumwas founded by an experienced and interdisciplinary team of banking, investment, DLT and regulatory experts, and is backed by a distinguished group of individuals and institutions. Together, they share a clear vision of how to transform the financial industry in the coming years through DLT banking innovation. ## Speedinvest - Type: VC Fund - Location: Vienna, Wien, Austria - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, FinTech, Financial Services Speedinvest is one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors, with more than €1bn AUM, 40 investors, and offices in Berlin, London, Munich, Paris, Vienna and San Francisco. Your success is our priority, so we don’t just send some money and "check in" at board meetings. Our mission is to empower you with game-changing support throughevery stage of your journey. Our focused investment teams know your industry inside and out. Their Deep Tech, Fintech, Industrial Tech, Network Effects, Digital Health and Subscriptions experience, know-how and deep networks are yours from day one. You also have full access to our in-house Platform+ team of operational experts who can provide tailored growth marketing, people (HR), US business development, and networking support throughout every stage of your journey. ## Boost Heroes - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: E-Commerce, Software, Apps Boost Heroes is an Italy-based holding company focusing on seed and early stage investments. ## ParaFi Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Greenwich, Connecticut, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Blockchain, Cryptocurrency, FinTech ParaFi Capital is an alternative investment firm focused on blockchain and decentralized finance markets. ## Wintermute Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Finance, Blockchain Wintermute Ventures is an Investment firm. ## Keyrock - Type: VC Fund - Location: Woluwé-saint-pierre, Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest, Belgium - Relevant deals: 1 We provide innovative algorithmic trading and market making solutions for digital assets to thrive. Our unique approach to liquidity allows our partners to expand and help create a new tokenized economy. ## Kairos Partners - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Michigan, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Medical, Wellness, Health Care Kairos Partners SGR was founded in 1999 as the first independent Italian asset management company. ## Keen Venture Partners - Type: VC Fund - Location: Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Series B, Seed - Focus: Software, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence Keen Venture Partners is a radically human venture capital firm that invests in fast-growing European scale-ups at the Series A and Series B stages ## Ray Iglesias - Type: Angel - Location: Guilford, Connecticut, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Payments, Mobile Payments, Apps Ray Iglesias is the executive chairman of Ubiquity. He has deep leadership experience, having previously held key roles in several successful startup organizations. Ray most recently served as the chief financial officer for TxVia, Inc. At TxVia, Ray raised more than $55 million in funding from top-tier investors including Oak Investment Partnersand Bain Capital before helping to close the sale of TxVia to Google in 2012. He previously co-founded Prepaid Media (2005) and Clarity Payment Solutions (2000), the latter of which was sold to S&P 500-listed corporation Total System Services (TSYS) in 2004. A graduate of Columbia University’s School of Law, Ray previously worked as an associate at Dewey & LeBoeuf. ## Jonathan Weiner - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Payments Jonathan Weiner - Venture Partner @ Oak HC/FT ## Stefano Meloni - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Focus: FinTech, Finance, Lending Stefano Meloni - Director of Innovation and Human Resources Development, Organization & QAS @ Brivio & Viganò ## Giuseppe Donagemma - Type: Angel - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Apps, EdTech, Banking Giuseppe (Beppe) is a global executive, who has had leading positions during last 20 years of both large corporate organizations (>10.000 people) and entrepreneurial companies.Beppe has been successful in his career thanks to his flexible mindset and hands-on behavior, in addition to excellent relationships’ building capabilities.Hisexperience entails from management of B2B business around the world to responsibility of project management of networks’ operations, from P/L management of 4 billion euros region to fund raising in Asia for a start-up company, from achieving successful change management and revenue growth turnarounds in big corporates to ensuring strategic partnerships for new emerging ventures, from developing the strategy and vision for a new business unit to opening new markets for an expanding company.Beppe always builds high performing and diverse teams to work with, leading them with high energy, confidence and ambiguity tolerance. He’s an attentive listener and an effective (public) speaker. He has a pragmatic and participative leadership style, and an excellent Board presence attitude.Beppe holds an engineering degree, a master (non-degree) in Strategy & Leadership. He is Fellow at Elis, a post-graduation faculty in Rome. He is an enthusiast sportsman, married with two daughters. ## Middlegame Ventures - Type: VC Fund - Location: Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B - Focus: FinTech, Financial Services, Software We back world-class fintech entrepreneurs creating transformative companies that will rearchitect financial services for decades to come ## Vertis SGR S.p.A. - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Biotechnology, Computer Vertis is a dynamic and independent investment management company authorised by Bank of Italy. It manages five closed-end funds for qualified investors by participating in research projects, spin-offs, startups and PMI and deals with the investments of the innovative Made in Italy. ## Club degli Investitori - Type: VC Fund - Location: Torino, Piemonte, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: E-Commerce, Health Care, Software Club degli Investitori (Investors Club) is a network of investors and business angels that invest on early-stage SMEs and startups. The community of 300+ Members (entrepreneurs, CEOs, executive managers) actively scouts for investing opportunities on SMEs & startups and invests with a minimum ticket of €200k. The Club supports business byinvesting capital and by leveraging the Members' network and experience.Club degli Investitori is supported by Unicredit and KPMG Italy. ## Lodovico Rosnati - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: SaaS, Retail, FinTech Lodovico Rosnati works for Capital Markets based out of Italy. ## Fondazione di Sardegna - Type: VC Fund - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series B - Focus: Financial Services, FinTech, Advice Fondazione di Sardegna promotes the socio-economic development of the Sardinia Region, also by taking holdings in banking and financial companies operating in the area. Fondazione di Sardegna, which has its registered office in Cagliari, in Via Salvatore Da Horta n.2, and its administrative office and general secretariat in Sassari, via CarloAlberto n.7, is a private non-profit legal entity, with full autonomy statutory and management pursuant to law No. 461 of 23 December 1998, and legislative decree No. 153 of 17 May 1999, and subsequent amendments. ## Innogest Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Series B - Focus: Health Care, Medical, Medical Device We are investors in companies that make the difference. We partner with hard-working entrepreneurial visionaries ## Honeycomb Portfolio - Type: VC Fund - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series C - Focus: FinTech, EdTech, Mobile Honeycomb Portfolio is a venture capital investment firm that seeks to invest in early-stage companies that are created within nature's intuitive intelligence. It has its headquarters in New York City. ## Eterna Capital - Type: VC Fund - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Blockchain, FinTech, Financial Services Eterna Capital is a blockchain investment firm - We back innovative entrepreneurs who harness blockchain technology ## GELLIFY - Type: VC Fund - Location: Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, Information Technology, Artificial Intelligence GELLIFY is the first innovation platform that invests in B2B digital software startups and connects them to traditional companies with the purpose of innovating their processes, products and business models, through Open Innovation.We make B2B software digital startups grow from the early stage, that we call the liquid state, to the solid one,thanks to our innovative process called "Gellification".A company which is looking to innovate can partner with GELLIFY to leverage all critical capabilities for digital transformation and focus on these specialties: Entrepreneurship, Sales & Marketing, Phygital Factory & Operations, Smart Technology and Smart Human. GELLIFY has also built a B2B Innovation Community, called “EXPLORE”, whose aim is to connect entrepreneurs, innovators and professionals through B2B events and phygital experiences.We operate globally from the following locations: Italy, United Arab Emirates, Spain and Portugal. ## U-Start - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Travel, Internet U-Start is a professional advisory firm structuring deals with private investors, investing in tech companies across Europe, Israel and US. ## Azimut Holding - Type: VC Fund - Location: Milan, Lombardia, Italy - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A - Focus: FinTech, Information Technology, Blockchain Azimut Holding is an independent financial company that offers investment solutions to develop excellent levels of experience. The company's business model is based on the vertical integration between asset management and distribution. It has portfolio managers and analysts based in major hubs around the world and a network of client-facingfinancial advisors operating to deliver quality advice to clients.Azimut Holding was founded on 1989 and is headquartered in Milan, Italy. # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co