Maritime Ventures is the venture builder project entirely dedicated to the nautical and port-logistics supply chains, set up on the initiative of CDP Venture Capital, which, in agreement with the Ministry of Enterprise and Made in Italy, has promoted the establishment of a special-purpose company entirely dedicated to building and launching new business initiatives that will develop products and services for the digitalisation and innovation of SMEs operating in the nautical and port-logistics supply chains.
The objective of Maritime Ventures, the birth of which we had anticipated in the Startupbusiness columns, is to create 10 new enterprises over the next three years to meet the growing digitisation needs of SMEs that develop components and services in the shipbuilding, yachting, cruise and port logistics sectors. These fledgling enterprises will be the subject of subsequent equity investments by CDP Venture Capital’s Boost Innovation Fund amounting to about EUR 30 million, which will generate an additionality effect on the market that will bring total investments to about EUR 70 million.
Maritime Ventures will operate in its two permanent offices in Genoa, thanks to the support of the City Council, which will host the company’s Genoese operational headquarters in the spaces of the Genoa Blue District, and in Trieste thanks to the contribution of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region.
The project is an initiative of CDP Venture Capital and involves other investors: the German venture builder Bridgemaker and the open innovation hub Cariplo Factory, which will operate in joint venture by managing the operations of Maritime Ventures, the shipbuilding giant Fincantieri, and PSA Italy, which is present in Italy with three container terminals that handle 25% of Italy’s import-export, the Intesa Sanpaolo Group, which has invested in the project through the Fondo Sei, Sviluppo Ecosistemi Innovativi of Neva Sgr, the Group’s venture capital company, Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, which supports the development of the Genoa and Liguria area, and Friulia, Finanziaria della Regione Friuli-Venezia Giulia, which supports the development of the regional territory. Confindustria Genova is an institutional partner of Maritime Ventures.
The Intesa Sanpaolo Group will also contribute through the consultancy of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, a company dedicated to the promotion and development of innovation, which controls Neva Sgr, and will support the interaction between the project management and the ecosystem of SMEs belonging to the sectors involved.
The official launch of Marine Ventures was attended by local institutions: the Genoa City Council and the Liguria Region, Agostino Scornajenchi, Managing Director and General Manager of CDP Venture Capital, and Lorenzo Franchini, Head of the Boost Innovation Fund, who outlined the importance of the link between business, innovation and investment, and the relevance of the boating and port sectors as strategic national supply chains.
Fincantieri CEO Pierroberto Folgiero and PSA Italy CEO Roberto Ferrari delved into the vision of the major industrial groups leading the industry by outlining the needs of digital transition for the nautical and port-logistics supply chains.
Other speakers included Alberto Anfossi, secretary general of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Alessandro Balboni, head of innovation business development of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, Andrea Fioravanti, senior investment officer of Friulia and Vittoria Gozzi, vice-president of Confindustria Genova, as well as Enrico Noseda as managing director of Maritime Ventures and chief innovation officer of Cariplo Factory. (Photo by Andrew Uematsu on Unsplash)
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