Foodtech just over 100 million
Rome. The technological transformation of the agri-food chain in Italy remains an untapped potential, with just under 100 million invested. This despite the fact that the agri-food chain, from field to table, accounts for approximately 30% of the Italian GDP.
This is what emerged from the first 'Report on the Technological Transformation of the Agri-food Supply Chain. The Contribution of the Startup Economy', presented today to the Senate and promoted by Federalimentare, supported by Confagricoltura and created by the Luiss-X.ITE Research Center, with the collaboration of the experts of Linfa AgriFoodTech Fund.
According to the study, an investment of attention and resources is therefore necessary by all institutional and entrepreneurial actors who have at heart an acceleration of Agri&FoodTech that allows maintaining the Italian leadership in agri-food.
Despite the history and position of agri-food in Italy, in fact, in 2024 just over 100 million euros were invested in the Agri&FoodTech startup, a decrease compared to the value of investments in 2023 (just over 140 million euros; -28%) and in 2022 (just over 150 million euros; -36% the decrease in 2024 on 2022).
A trend only partly explained by the Covid emergency, which in 2022 had pushed investments in startups capable of innovating the world of trade and services related to food. Here, a reversal of this trend and a decisive change of pace has now become urgent, also to accelerate the integration of startups in the economic processes of the supply chain by involving small, medium and large companies that already operate on national and international markets.
The United Kingdom, Germany, France and Spain invest more than Italy and, comparing this difference to the weight that agri-food has on the GDP of the different countries, the difference appears truly abnormal.
Comparing the amount invested in Italy with the average of four European countries of reference, it emerges that to fill the gap, for example, in relation to the value of agricultural production, the value of Agri&FoodTech investments should be over 500 million euros per year. A good 5 times more than the real figure for 2024.
A gap that urges to be filled with multiple interventions by all the actors involved. Also because the Agri&FoodTech ecosystem in Italy is growing and effervescent. The report mapped 550 startups, of which 280 had access to at least one investment round, although mostly in the pre-seed or seed phase.
Here, more capital and more investors, both venture capital professionals and corporate, should be attracted and encouraged. It must always be remembered that Agri&FoodTech innovations almost always (over 80% of cases) benefit decarbonization and therefore the climate, but also energy production and better use of environmental resources such as water and land; and of course health and well-being, the production of new materials (“smart” and circular) and, finally, the reduction of inequalities and therefore social justice.
“The survey,” says Paolo Mascarino, President of Federalimentare, “is a fundamental tool for mapping, collecting and making visible the actions underway by Italian startups and innovation centers.
The Observatory will be a strategic platform to facilitate shared knowledge, network the most promising solutions and encourage dialogue between innovators, businesses and institutions. We are already working to build a European partnership aimed at accessing Horizon Europe funds dedicated to agri-food and this is a fundamental step to enhance our international projection and strengthen the competitiveness of the sector on a global scale.
In parallel, as recently occurred with the establishment of the Network for Research, Innovation and Technology Transfer – ReRITT, promoted by the Agrifood CLAN Cluster, contacts have been initiated with the Ministry of University and Research to build a structured collaboration that strengthens national co-financing and synergy with European policies. For companies investing in research, it is essential that there is a favorable, stable and predictable context, in which public support acts as a multiplier of private investments”.
"I believe this project - adds Michele Costabile, LUISS professor and director of the LUISS-X.ITE Research Center - is a first concrete attempt to move from analysis to action. That Italy is behind in the technological transformation of key sectors for the country's economy, such as agri-food, is a fact but not a destiny!
Knowing, moreover, that the performance of the future depends on innovation in the present, this first report on the technological transformation of the Made in Italy agri-food sector clarifies that it is necessary to quintuple investments in Agri&FoodTech startups, invest in specialized technopoles, incentivize private capital for venture capital in an original and courageous way and massively attract the already strong entrepreneurial skills and consolidate them in our country through smart partnerships with the ecosystem of startups that all over the world and in all sectors lead the great transformations of sectors and markets”.
“As the first Italian fund focused on Agri&FoodTech - underlines Marco Gaiani, Founder & Partner Linfa of Riello Investimenti Sgr - we have been studying this ecosystem for years: we can confirm that in Italy there are startups that have talents, skills, technologies that have nothing to envy of more renowned countries from the point of view of Venture Capital; moreover, often with less inflated valuations, therefore offering excellent investment opportunities. I hope that this initiative in partnership with Federalimentare is the first of many that allow Italian agri-food innovation to seize all the enormous opportunities it presents”.
Article published on May 14, 2025 - 14:15 pm
Video Chronicles
The article makes a good analysis of investments in the Agri&FoodTech sector in Italy. However, it seems to me that the numbers are a bit alarming and do not reflect the true potential of the market. Let's hope there will be more investments in the future.