Rome, April 26, 2023 – CDP Venture Capital SGR and the FS Group enter into a strategic partnership for the development of innovation through investments in innovative SMEs and startups. In particular, the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane parent company enters the Corporate Partners I fund by subscribing a total value of 10 million euro in shares.
CDP Venture Capital SGR’s Corporate Venture Capital umbrella fund involves the main industrial and financial players, through collaboration and investments in energy, services, manufacturing and infrastructure sector startups, aimed at stimulating Italian venture ecosystem growth by promoting corporate involvement.
In particular, Ferrovie dello Stato has subscribed 10 million euro in the InfraTech division that focuses on investments in innovative companies engaged in the development of solutions related to new technologies in the design, planning, monitoring and management processes of large-scale worksites and infrastructure. This will assist in responding to the FS Italiane Group’s need to make its infrastructures increasingly connected, and promote predictive maintenance and service efficiency, in line with its 10-year Business Plan that envisages innovation as one of its enabling factors.
Joining the Corporate Partners I fund as an investor gives FS privileged insight into emerging trends and new innovative projects related to the world of infrastructure and allows FS to actively participate in the exploration of new technologies and to scout for innovative companies operating in areas of specific interest.
The operation confirms FS’ commitment to the development of Open Innovation activities in support of startups. It will further encourage the creation of new partnerships, promoting business initiatives with a strong innovative vocation and focus on technological solutions of interest to the Group.
Thanks to this new strategic partnership, the Corporate Partners I fund thus reaches the target of 295 million subscriptions, moving towards the target of 400 million as fundraising continues for the four divisions of the fund: InfraTech, IndustryTech, EnergyTech and ServiceTech.
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CDP Venture Capital SGR
CDP Venture Capital is an Asset Management Company (70% of CDP Equity and 30% of Invitalia) managing over 3 billion euro in resources. It aims to make Venture Capital a cornerstone of the country’s economic development and innovation, generating the conditions for an overall and sustainable growth of the Venture Capital ecosystem. It operates with a series of funds that seek to support startups in all stages, making both direct and indirect investments.
FS Italiane Group
The FS Group is one of the largest industrial companies in Italy and at the heart of the country’s sustainable mobility system. With about 82,000 employees, 9,500 trains per day, over 650 million train and bus passengers per year and 40 million tonnes of freight annually, the FS Group is a leader in passenger and freight transport by rail. The railway infrastructure extends over 17,000 kilometres, of which more than 1000 kilometres of the network are dedicated to High Speed/High Capacity services. The Group also operates a road network of around 32,400 kilometres.