The Techshop Research
Investment Thesis
The Techshop is a Milan-based, Bank of Italy-regulated venture capital SGR (Società di Gestione del Risparmio) founded in 2021 by Aurelio Mezzotero (professional investor) and Gianluca D'Agostino (digital entrepreneur), with Giovanni Strocchi joining as Partner in 2025 to strengthen the leadership team. The firm was built on the belief that early-stage investing is one of the few segments where Italian VCs can compete in a globalised market, and that Italian founders combine strong technical talent with international mobility and ambition. The firm's first fund, Techshop I (€50M AUM), was the first Italian fund dedicated entirely to B2B SaaS and ranked among the top 5% of same-vintage EU funds by performance. Its second fund, Techshop II, carries the thesis into the AI era, backing founders reimagining how software-enabled solutions are built and delivered.
Sector Focus
Techshop is industry- and vertical-agnostic within B2B software: it backs both defensible technology products and digital disruptors serving the enterprise and SME segments. Portfolio companies span conversational AI and customer engagement, hospitality revenue management, roadside-assistance orchestration, restaurant payments, fashion sustainability intelligence, BNPL for offline merchants, SMB financial management, AI-driven asset management, enterprise knowledge management, genomics/health data, secure cloud infrastructure, AI agent-building platforms, ecommerce optimisation, physical-automation/robotics (including maritime robotics), HR agent tooling, and healthcare voice agents. Techshop II explicitly deepens the AI thread across this same B2B surface area.
Stage Focus
Techshop invests at pre-seed and seed, positioning itself as one of the few Italian firms with the network and experience to support startups from product design through go-to-market and internationalisation, while also bringing in other Italian and international investors for follow-on rounds.
Check Size
Not disclosed on the firm's public site; no reliable check-size figures were found in press coverage, so this field is left unset rather than estimated.
Lead Tendency
The firm's own description ("possessing the experience, network and mindset to support startups... while also managing to involve other investors... in subsequent fundraising rounds") indicates Techshop typically leads or anchors the initial institutional round and syndicates follow-on rounds with other investors.
Recent Activity
Techshop II announced its first close at €43M in September 2026 (against a €110M target by 2027), with CDP Venture Capital participating as a reference investor via FoF VenturItaly II and the Digital Transition Fund (NextGenerationEU). Techshop I closed above its original €50M target in November 2024. Recent portfolio financings tracked via the firm's news page include AndromedAI (€1.1M pre-seed, Sept 2025), Syllotips (€4.2M seed, Sept 2025), Tot (€7M pre-Series A, Sept 2025), Cyberwave (€7M round, Oct 2025), Axyon AI (€4.3M round, Apr 2025), AllSides/formerly Covision Media (€5M seed, Mar 2025), and GenomeUp (€4.5M round, Mar 2025). Portfolio company hlpy closed an €18M Series B and acquired a DACH-region roadside-assistance competitor in September 2024. Fund status: actively deploying (Techshop II).
Portfolio Highlights
Notable portfolio companies include hlpy (digital roadside-assistance orchestrator, €18M Series B plus a DACH acquisition), Smartpricing (hospitality revenue management, Series A), Axyon AI (AI strategies for asset management), Syllotips (enterprise knowledge-sharing AI agents), Tot (SMB financial management platform), GenomeUp (genetic-data processing for early diagnosis), AndromedAI, AllSides (formerly Covision Media, 3D content, backed alongside Meta and Adidas), Cyberwave (robotics/physical automation, described as pursuing a "Hugging Face of robotics" thesis), and Qodeup (restaurant table-side bill payment).
Team
- Aurelio Mezzotero — Founder & Managing Partner. Professional investor; co-founded the firm in 2021.
- Gianluca D'Agostino — Co-Founder. Digital entrepreneur background.
- Giovanni Strocchi — Venture Partner. Joined 2025 to strengthen the leadership team ahead of Techshop II.
- Giovanni Orlandi — Senior Investment Analyst.
- Giuseppe Carluccio — Investment Analyst.
- Ubaldo Mafrici — Investment team.
- Elisa Guerrini — Team member.
- Alberto Pandolfi — Team member.
- Alfredo Rovini — Team member.
- Sheila Alfaro — Team member.
- Enrica Lipari — HR / team operations.
Decision Process
Partnership-led: a Managing Partner, a Venture Partner, and a small analyst team evaluate and support deals, consistent with a regulated SGR structure supervised by the Bank of Italy.
Founder Preferences
Techshop backs technical and operationally strong founders building B2B software (SaaS and, increasingly, AI-native products) who are willing to use Italy as a base while pursuing an international, global market. The firm emphasizes hands-on, OKR-driven operational support post-investment rather than purely passive capital.
Geographic Focus
Primarily Italy, with an explicit thesis that Italian founders can compete globally; Techshop II broadens the mandate to include startups in Italy and the wider European market.