SAFE, the Subscription Agreement for Future Equity, is the most widely used instrument today for pre-seed and seed investments in start-ups, about which we have written an in-depth article here (in Italian).
Now the Italian version of the SAFE is renewed thanks to the joint work of the Italian Tech Alliance, Growth Capital and the law firms Bird Bird; BonelliErede; Chiomenti; Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt Mosle LLP; Di Tanno Associati; DLA Piper; LCA Studio Legale and Pavia and Ansaldo as well as Portolano Cavallo and Withers, which coordinated the work.
This is a new milestone for the Italian venture capital market in that, for the first time, a large number of Italian law firms operating in the venture capital sector and a representation of investors and founders have constructively confronted each other and shared a model of an investment tool in line with the spirit of the American SAFE (created by the American accelerator Y Combinator), but at the same time consistent with the Italian legal system, with the common aim of helping start-ups and investors speed up the investment process.
This document is therefore an expression of a joint will to support the growth of the Italian venture capital ecosystem with conviction and passion, with a view to making it increasingly attractive to foreign operators and competitive with other markets.
SAFE allows founders to raise capital by postponing the start-up’s valuation to a more mature stage and postponing the investor’s entry into the start-up’s ownership until a subsequent qualified investment round.
The new version of SAFE was presented by Francesco Cerruti (managing director, Italian Tech Alliance), Fabio Mondini de Focatiis (founding partner, Growth Capital), Antonia Verna (Portolano Cavallo), Sergio Anania (Withers), Giancarlo Rocchietti (Club degli Investitori) and Filippo Galanti (Divinea).
The SAFE 2.0 template will be available on the website of the Italian Tech Alliance and Growth Capital, and on that of the law firms that contributed to the project. With a simple download, the template can be used for transactions that require speed, simplicity and standardisation. To formalise investments, the parties will simply have to agree on a few items (discount, cap, maturity date, maturity valuation and characteristics of the conversion round), fill in and sign the document, and then proceed with the payment. (photo by Mina Rad on Unsplash).
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