Italian Founders Fund Research
Investment Thesis
Italian Founders Fund (IFF) is Italy's first founder-backed venture capital fund, managed by Koinos Capital SGR out of Milan. The fund was built by a community of over 100 experienced entrepreneurs and second-time founders who, starting around 2022, had already begun informally backing each other's earliest rounds. Lorenzo Franzi (former investor at Global Founders Capital) and Irene Mingozzi formalized that founder-to-founder energy into an institutional vehicle. IFF is explicitly sector-agnostic: its manifesto states the fund focuses on "unlimited ambition and global mindset," "exceptional and passionate founders," "extreme transparency," and founders with "no fear to fail and iterate." The thesis targets companies with an "Italian DNA" — born in Italy, expanding into Italy, or founded by Italians anywhere in the world — with the goal of helping them access global capital once they are ready to scale internationally.
Stage Focus
IFF invests from Pre-Seed through Series A, explicitly stating on its site: "We invest from Pre-Seed to Series A in companies with an Italian DNA." In practice the current portfolio skews heavily Pre-Seed and Seed, with selective participation in later rounds (Series A and Series B) as follow-on support for standout portfolio companies (e.g., Sona's $45M Series B, Paradigma's Series B).
Check Size
Stated initial investment range is €250K to €3M. Some sources (Pitchbook) describe an earlier, narrower band of €250K–€500K per check with a target of ~25 portfolio companies per fund vintage, suggesting the fund concentrates most first checks at the smaller end of its stated range and reserves capital for follow-ons in winners.
Lead Tendency
IFF explicitly positions itself as leading or co-leading early rounds: "We lead or co-lead early rounds, and help unlock global capital when it's time to scale." Confirmed examples include leading Cato's €1.6M round (April 2026) and JetHR's initial round, while also co-leading and participating alongside other funds (e.g., co-led Compri's pre-seed with Dutch Founders Fund, participated in Invertix's pre-seed led by Vireo Ventures, and in Pillar's and Sona's rounds).
Recent Activity
IFF closed its inaugural fund at €50M in June 2024, grew it to €90M in August 2025 with a €35M commitment from CDP Venture Capital's Digital Transition Fund, and reached a final close of over €100M in July 2026. The fund has been actively deploying throughout 2026, with investments/participations publicly announced in Cato (Apr 2026), Sona's $45M Series B (Apr 2026), Mama Health (May 2026), Pillar (May 2026), Invertix (May 2026), and a return investment in Compri's €3.2M seed round led by Picus Capital (Jun 2026) — having originally co-led Compri's pre-seed. The firm also runs an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EiR) program that has spun out at least one portfolio company (Compri, founded in 2024 within the program).
Portfolio Highlights
The portfolio spans ~25 companies, predominantly Italian B2B SaaS. Notable names include JetHR (payroll/HR platform, founded by former ProntoPro CEO Marco Ogliengo), Sona (workforce management, $45M Series B), Sava (biosensing wearables, Imperial College London spinout), Manufact/MCP-Use (open-source AI agent infrastructure), Platonic Research (AI foundation models), Seltz.AI (AI agent web-knowledge infrastructure, founder ex-Pinecone/Amazon Alexa), CommerceClarity (AI e-commerce catalog orchestration, founder ex-Everli CEO), Fleequid (B2B used-bus marketplace), Wynwood (real estate/hospitality platform across LatAm/US/Europe), and Pillar (construction operating system). No public exits have been reported yet, consistent with the fund's young (2023) vintage.
Team
- Lorenzo Franzi — Partner. Former entrepreneur, angel investor, and investor at Global Founders Capital.
- Irene Mingozzi — Partner.
- Virginia Bassano — Principal.
- Livia Figarolo di Gropello — Senior Investment Analyst.
- Leonardo Cerretani — Investment Operations.
- Monica Conti — Fund Admin.
The fund also curates a network of "Venture Founders" (senior operator-advisors) including Luca Ferrari (Bending Spoons), Riccardo Zacconi (King.com/Candy Crush), Simone Mancini (Scalapay), Paolo De Nadai (WeRoad), Carlo Gualandri (Soldo), Elena Boscolo (Boscolo Hotels), Daniele Perito (Faire), and Luca Rossettini (D-Orbit).
Decision Process
With two named Partners (Franzi and Mingozzi) plus a Principal and analyst/operations staff, decisions appear to run through a small partnership rather than a solo GP or large investment committee.
Founder Preferences
The manifesto is explicit: IFF wants "ambition, not a résumé" — founders who reveal leadership over time rather than credentialed pedigree, with a strong preference for second-time or experienced entrepreneurs (many portfolio founders are repeat founders or come from scaled Italian startups like ProntoPro, Everli, and Smartpricing). The fund publishes a public "share your business idea" intake form, suggesting warm intros are helpful but not strictly required.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Italy, with a mandate that extends to companies "founded by Italians anywhere in the world" and international expansion support (portfolio companies operate across Europe, the US, and Latin America).