Levante Capital Research
Investment Thesis
Levante Capital is a Milan-based, Bank of Italy-regulated venture capital fund (structured as a Società d'Investimento Semplice, or SIS) that pursues a distinctive geographic arbitrage thesis: invest in the most promising Southern European (primarily Italian) deep-technology companies and actively support their expansion into Asian markets. The fund's tagline — "European Technologies, Asian Horizons" — captures the core idea: European engineering excellence combined with Asian market scale.
Founded in 2020–2021 by Edoardo Agamennone and Francesco Lorenzini (along with co-founder Francesco Rossi), Levante emerged from their first-hand experience with TechSilu, a platform connecting Italian and Asian tech ecosystems that helped 20+ Italian startups raise from Asian investors. Their thesis is that Southern European technology companies are systematically undervalued and underleveraged relative to their technological quality, and that the Asian-European axis presents substantial arbitrage opportunities over the next decade.
Investment Model
Levante's process is distinctive and proprietary. Rather than simply writing checks, they use a three-stage framework:
- Proprietary Evaluation Framework: A structured screening calibrated specifically for Asian expansion potential, combined with a sustainability assessment (SFDR-aware).
- Asian Market Validation (Pull Model): Before committing, Levante exposes target companies to prospective Asian partners — including VC funds and leading corporates in China, South Korea, Japan, and South-East Asia — and only invests in companies that demonstrate genuine market pull from the destination market.
- Active Expansion Support: Post-investment, Levante guides management on Asia-specific business plans, negotiates with local partners, and facilitates market entry through their proprietary network in Greater China, South Korea, Japan, and South-East Asia.
The fund takes minority equity positions and focuses on scale-ups that have proven technology and some commercial traction in Europe, but have not yet achieved international reach.
Sector Focus
Levante organizes its investments around three core verticals:
Advanced Manufacturing: Industrial automation, robotics, radar/sensor technology, photonics, cybersecurity for connected systems, and IoT. Portfolio examples include Inxpect (industrial safety radar), Hiro Robotics (AI-powered e-waste recycling robotics), PhotonPath (photonic integrated circuits), Cynomys (IoT livestock monitoring), and Drivesec (automated cybersecurity testing for connected vehicles).
Life Science: In silico drug development, biotech, and medical device simulation. InSilicoTrials — which uses computational AI to hyperaccelerate drug and medical device development — is the flagship investment in this vertical.
Energy & Environment: Clean energy, sustainability, and environmental applications. Soul-k (B2B food-tech enabling sustainable supply chains) and D-Orbit (space logistics enabling satellite infrastructure for environmental monitoring) touch on this vertical.
Cross-cutting theme: AI and IoT are recurrent technology enablers across all three verticals, though the fund is fundamentally sector-specialist (deep-tech / hard-tech) rather than pure software.
Stage Focus
Levante primarily invests in scale-ups — companies that have achieved product validation and initial commercial traction but need capital and strategic support to accelerate internationally. Tracxn data indicates an average seed round size of approximately $2.29M across Levante-participated rounds. The portfolio includes companies at multiple stages, from early seed to more mature scale-ups.
Geographic Focus
Investment sourcing: Southern Europe, with a strong emphasis on Italy. The fund name itself (Levante = "the East" or "the Levant" in Italian) signals the directionality.
Expansion target markets: China, South Korea, Japan, and South-East Asia. The team has deep personal networks and operational experience across these markets (Edoardo Agamennone spent years as an M&A lawyer and EDF senior advisor in Beijing and Shanghai; co-founders operated TechSilu from Beijing).
Team
Edoardo Agamennone, Co-founder and Managing Partner: Career M&A lawyer (Rome, Milan, Beijing, Shanghai); 8+ years as Senior Legal Advisor at EDF (Beijing then Paris); Lecturer at SciencesPo, University of Turin, and Université de Lausanne; Research Fellow at T.wai (Torino World Affairs Institute). PhD in Financial and Management Studies from SOAS, University of London. The fund's primary public voice and deal lead.
Francesco Lorenzini, Partner and Co-founder: Co-founded TechSilu with Agamennone and Rossi in Beijing, building the first Italian-Asian tech ecosystem connection platform. Deep Asia-based operational experience helping Italian startups navigate Asian markets.
Francesco Rossi, Co-founder: Third co-founder associated with TechSilu. Operational role unclear from public sources.
Federico Trevia: Listed as content/portfolio manager on the Levante website (author of all portfolio entries and news). Likely serves an operational or analyst role within the firm.
Portfolio Highlights
The fund has made 8 investments across two funds (Levante Capital I and Levante Capital II):
- D-Orbit (dorbit.space): Space logistics and orbital transportation; market leader in the space logistics sector, with subsidiaries in Portugal, UK, and US.
- InSilicoTrials (insilicotrials.com): AI-driven in silico clinical trials platform; winner of AI Startup of the Year at Startup Grind Global 2024; Trieste-based, scaling globally.
- Inxpect (inxpect.com): First radar sensors certified for industrial safety; established Chinese subsidiary (Inxpect China, Tianjin) in 2023 — a direct example of Levante's Asian expansion thesis in action.
- PhotonPath (photon-path.com): Intelligent Photonic Integrated Circuits; raised €5.1M Series A in 2024 (co-investor: Deep Blue Ventures).
- Cynomys (cynomys.it): IoT-AI livestock monitoring; precision agriculture; Levante invested in a round announced March 2024.
- Drivesec (drivesec.com): Automated cybersecurity testing for connected devices and automotive IoT; most recent investment (February 2025).
- Hiro Robotics (hirorobotics.com): AI-powered robotic systems for e-waste (WEEE) disassembly and recycling.
- Soul-k (soul-k.com): B2B food-tech company enabling lean production and just-in-time delivery for food professionals.
Fund Structure and Regulation
Levante operates as a regulated SIS (Società d'Investimento Semplice a Capitale Fisso S.p.A.), approved by and subject to supervision by the Bank of Italy (Decision no. 180/2021, March 30, 2021). The fund has raised two vehicles: Levante Capital I and Levante Capital II. The SIS structure was deliberately chosen over Luxembourg domicile to signal commitment to the Italian innovation ecosystem while meeting institutional investor requirements.
Recent Activity
PitchBook confirms 8 total investments, with the most recent being Drivesec (February 2025) and Hiro Robotics (early 2025), suggesting Levante Capital II is actively deploying.
Decision Process and Founder Preferences
Decision-making is a partnership process with close involvement of Agamennone and Lorenzini. The fund has a strong preference for deep-tech founders in Southern Europe (especially Italy) who have built something with real technological differentiation and interest in growing through Asia. The 'pull model' — requiring demonstrated Asian market interest before investing — means deal timelines may be extended but conviction is high at investment.