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Milan’s technology ecosystem is experiencing a period of rapid growth, establishing itself as an important hub in Italy and Europe. This is the finding of the Milan Ecosystem Report 2024 produced by Dealroom with YesMilano, Milano&Partners, the Municipality of Milan, the Chamber of Commerce of Milan Monza Brianza Lodi and Promos Italia, which highlights the progress and potential of the development model supporting business innovation that revolves around the Lombard capital.
Exponential growth and evaluation
The Milanese startup scene has seen a fifteen-fold increase in value over the last ten years, with the total value in 2024 exceeding EUR 29 billion and growing from EUR 25 billion in 2023, EUR 24 billion in 2022, and EUR 20 billion in 2021. Almost half of the value of the entire Italian technology ecosystem is concentrated in Milan, around 46%, followed by Turin with 13%, Rome with 8% and Bologna with 1%. The ecosystem has grown 2.1 times since 2019, surpassing the percentage growth of more mature ecosystems such as London and Paris and placing itself at a similar level to Munich, Brussels, Copenhagen and Berlin, but at a slower rate than Lisbon, Madrid and Vienna, which lead the ranking in terms of pace of growth over the last five years.
Investment and Financing
Milan ranks 15th among European cities for venture capital (VC) investment as of 2019 with €3.9 billion in value, below Dublin with €5.8 billion and Oslo with €5.2 billion and above Tallinn with €3.8 billion and Vienna with €3.5 billion. On a per capita basis, VC investments in Milan are significantly higher than both the European (€542) and Italian (€120) averages with a value of EUR 912.7 to Vienna, which leads the ranking with EUR 1200, Barcelona (1100), Bucharest (966.5), Madrid (946.7) and ahead of Manchester (871.3), Prague (858.4). Stuttgart (791.3) Hamburg (470.4) and Istanbul (373.8). Milan startups are expected to have raised more than EUR 500m in 2024, making it the second highest year for VC investments to date. SaaS startups have received more than half of all VC investments in Milan since 2019, while fintech startups have attracted the most VC funding, exceeding EUR 1 billion since 2019, with Satispay and Scalapay accounting for 87% of this amount with Milan ranking 9th in Europe for VC investments in the fintech sector with precisely EUR 1.2 billion, equal to Madrid and just above Zurich (1.1). Startups in the lifescience sector in Milan have secured €365 million since 2019, with a record of over €86 million raised in 2024, here the city ranks just below Barcelona (€379 million) and just above Oslo (€360).
Key sectors and start-ups
Fintech and payments are the leading sectors in terms of VC investments from 2019, lifescience is experiencing substantial growth and investments. Every year about 50 Milanese start-ups get their first VC round. There is a promising pipeline of start-ups and scaleups in Milan, the report includes both Milan-based and Milan-founded start-ups (based outside Milan), reflecting the interconnected nature of the ecosystem. In particular, in 2024 the ecosystem produced Series A investments with an average investment value of €14 million, higher than the Italian and European averages, and Series B investments with a value of €16 million in line with the Italian average, while the average value of the seed investment is lower than both the Italian and European averages, at €1.7 million.
Universities, accelerators and innovation poles
Universities play a key role in the growth of the ecosystem, with the Politecnico di Milano, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and Università Bocconi producing a significant number of former founders. Over 50 accelerators and incubators actively support the ecosystem.
Investors
Since 2021, the number of unique investors in Milan has remained consistently above 200, the figure for 2024 is 212, half of the 10 most active Italian investors are based in Milan, the report identifies them as Italian Angels for Growth, United Ventures, Indaco Venture Partners, Primo Ventures and P101 Ventures and cites CDP Venture Capital, LVenture Group (in Rome), 360 Capital (in Paris), Club degli Investitori and LIFTT (in Turin) as the other active ones who are not, however, headquartered in Milan. In recent years, Milan has become increasingly attractive to foreign investors with a significant growth between 2023 and 2024 of those of European genesis although those from the US and Asia are also growing. Since 2023, local VC investors have raised more than EUR 900 million in new VC funds and, as of 2019, 51% of Italian VC funds are based in Milan (report available here).
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