360 Capital Research
Investment Thesis
360 Capital is a pan-European venture capital firm founded in 1997, making it one of the longest-running VC platforms in Europe (29 years of continuous investing as of 2026). The firm backs visionary founders building breakthrough technology, organized around three thematic pillars: Deep Tech, Climate Tech, and Digital-First solutions. Historically the firm rode the first wave of European eCommerce in the 2000s before gradually shifting its focus toward deeper technology bets over the past decade. It positions itself as a "trend seeker," willing to take audacious early bets on technologies emerging from cutting-edge research, including a formal technology-transfer partnership with Politecnico di Milano that gives it privileged access to spinouts from one of Europe's top technical universities (the Poli360 fund family).
Sector Focus
Deep Tech: Robotics, AI, quantum computing, space-tech, machine vision, and neuromorphic sensing. The firm claims to have been a European pioneer in backing robotics, machine vision, neuromorphic sensing, and space-tech before these were mainstream categories.
Climate Tech: Green energy production, electrification, energy storage (including long-duration energy storage / LDES), carbon capture, recycling and material reuse, and smart cities. 360 Capital was among the first European funds to launch a dedicated vehicle for climate and sustainability technology.
Digital-First Solutions: B2B and B2C digital products with the potential to disrupt traditional business models, spanning enterprise software, fintech, e-commerce, and consumer platforms. The firm has more than 25 years of experience investing in this category specifically.
Stage Focus
360 Capital invests from Pre-Seed through Series B, describing itself explicitly as an "Early Stage European VC, investing from Pre-Seed to Series B." It also runs a dedicated deep-tech technology-transfer vehicle (Poli360 2, targeting €100M, closed at €85M in March 2026) focused specifically on early-stage spinouts from Europe's top universities and research centers, and a regional parallel fund (LV 360 2, €15M, launched July 2026 with Regione Lombardia) targeting Lombardy-based deep-tech startups.
Check Size
No explicit check-size range is published on the firm's site. Deal sizes observed in recent activity range from roughly $2.7M (NOC Energy seed) to €14M (ISAAC Series B), consistent with a fund actively deploying across pre-seed through Series B.
Lead Tendency
Mixed. 360 Capital has led seed rounds outright (e.g., NOC Energy's $2.7M seed, April 2026) and has also participated as one of several investors in larger or later rounds where it is an existing shareholder (e.g., Sinergy Flow's €7M late-seed round and ISAAC's €14M Series B, both alongside CDP Venture Capital and other co-investors).
Recent Activity
Fund status: actively deploying across multiple vehicles. Notable activity in 2026:
- July 2026: Follow-on investment in portfolio company Circular Materials, which raised €11.8M to scale critical raw material recovery from industrial wastewater.
- July 2026: Launched LV 360 2, a €15M parallel fund with Regione Lombardia dedicated to Lombardy-based deep-tech startups.
- April 2026: Led a $2.7M seed round in NOC Energy (industrial electric heat for cement and glass manufacturing), alongside SOSV and Desai Ventures.
- March 2026: Closed Poli360 2 at €85M (against a €100M target), its deeptech technology-transfer fund backing university spinouts.
- March 2026: Participated in ISAAC antisismica's €14M Series B for seismic-protection technology, alongside CDP Venture Capital.
- February 2026: Participated in Sinergy Flow's €7M late-seed round for redox flow battery technology, alongside CDP Venture Capital and Exergon.
Portfolio Highlights
360 Capital reports 70+ current portfolio companies and 170+ startups backed since inception, with roughly €700M in assets under management. Notable names across its 29-year history include Withings, Sophia Genetics, Prophesee, Exotec, eDreams, Le Slip Français, Casavo, Energy Dome, IriusRisk, GreyParrot, Traefik Labs, Preligens, Arbe, Unseenlabs, and Exotrail. The firm has had multiple notable exits and acquisitions across its history, including companies later acquired or gone public (e.g., eDreams, Yoox).
Team
360 Capital operates as a dual-hub firm with senior partners based in Milan, Italy and Paris, France:
- Alessandro Zaccaria — Partner (Milan, Italy)
- Alexandre Mordacq — Partner (Paris, France)
- Cesare Maifredi — Partner (Milan, Italy)
- Fausto Boni — Partner (Milan, Italy)
- François Tison — Partner (Paris, France)
- Lucrezia Lucotti — Partner (Milan, Italy)
- Thomas Nivard — Partner (Paris, France)
- Jean-Marie Perrot — CFO & Head of ESG (Paris, France)
- Enzo Pagès — Head of Marketing & Community (Paris, France)
The broader team also includes multiple Investors, Investor Relations Managers, and Finance Officers split across the Milan and Paris offices, reflecting a sizeable dedicated investment and operations team for a fund of this AUM.
Decision Process
Likely a multi-partner partnership model given seven partners split across two offices (Milan and Paris), each apparently able to source and champion deals regionally, consistent with the firm's "pan-European approach" messaging and its coverage map spanning Italy, France, UK, Spain, and beyond.
Founder Preferences
360 Capital favors technical and scientific founders tackling large structural problems: deep-tech founders spinning technology out of research institutions (formalized via the Politecnico di Milano partnership), climate-tech founders addressing energy and materials at industrial scale, and digital-first founders building disruptive B2B/B2C platforms. The firm explicitly frames itself as backing "audacious bets" and "visionary founders pursuing ambitiously disruptive goals."
Geographic Focus
Primarily Europe, with an explicit "pan-European approach" and deepest coverage in Italy and France (its two home markets since 1997). Portfolio geography also spans the UK, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and Israel, and the firm maintains a public map of representative deals in each market (e.g., London–GreyParrot, Rennes–Unseenlabs, Paris–Wakeo, Milan–Energy Dome, Madrid–IriusRisk). The firm also runs a public "Pitch Now" submission form, suggesting it accepts inbound deal flow directly in addition to warm introductions.