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July 23, 2020 58% of startups have increased their staff, 32% have seen an increase in demand and 27% have seen a growth in revenues. These are some data that emerge from the survey 'The impact of the Covid-19 emergency on startups and on the innovation ecosystem in Italy', carried out by Vc Hub Italia and EY.

The study analyzes the impact of the Covid-19 emergency on the Italian innovation ecosystem, and tells how this has shown significant resilience and how startups and investors in innovation have had less devastating consequences than those recorded by traditional companies.

The startups involved operate mainly on the Italian market (68%), most of them are based in Lombardy - the area most affected by the emergency - and cover various sectors, with a prevalence of retail and e-commerce. 52% are confident that the current situation will last up to 6 months at the most, and 85% are convinced that once the health emergency ends, their business can go back to operating at pre-pandemic levels. It also emerges that 62% of the companies involved in the survey worked in smart working without compromising productivity and 67.5% did not make any investments to facilitate smart working, also because many had already equipped themselves with the tools to operate in this sense. 

Both the startup and the venture capital sides show how the state should intervene through direct and indirect support measures, as well as having to work to lighten the bureaucracy. On the Venture Capital side, 62% believe that the most suitable instrument is that of legislative decrees. Obviously there were difficulties: 52% of startups recorded a more or less substantial drop in demand and 22% had to deal with liquidity problems. For this reason, 55% had to resort to layoffs. 41% of startups are therefore evaluating the Venture Debt. On the funds side, there is a liquidity problem and 54% are preparing with the search for funding to start again.