Why Italy needs stable rules for early-stage investing
We opened 2026 with the first Investor Day of the year.
Participation was at a record level. The room was full, the discussions lively, and we received an unusually high number of requests from people interested in becoming business angels.
From the ground level of the ecosystem, the signal is clear: private capital for innovation in Italy is alive. There is curiosity, willingness to learn, and an increasing number of entrepreneurs and professionals ready to invest their time and resources in early-stage companies.
And yet, alongside this enthusiasm, there is also a sense of frustration.
At the start of the year, private investors in Italy find themselves without one of the few policy tools that has demonstrably supported early-stage capital in the country: the tax deduction for investments in innovative startups and SMEs. The measure — known to be expiring on 31 December 2025 — has not yet been renewed because the Italian government has not sent the request for extension to the European Commission.
This is not a technical detail. For more than a decade, the 30% tax incentive has been one of the few structural mechanisms encouraging individuals to invest in innovation at the earliest stages, when risk is highest and institutional capital is often absent.
Today more than 2,000 Italian business angels are waiting for clarity.
They are not asking for privileges. What they need is predictability. Early-stage investment requires long time horizons and a stable framework. Without it, uncertainty spreads quickly across the ecosystem.
The contrast with other European countries is striking. France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain have built policy environments where private investment in startups has grown steadily. Their annual volumes of early-stage investment are now between two and ten times larger than Italy’s.
The difference is not only capital availability. It is continuity of policy.
In Italy, the existing incentive has worked. It has helped attract private investors, stimulate deal flow and support a generation of young companies. But it has rarely been accompanied by a long-term vision for how angel investment should fit into the broader innovation strategy of the country.
What the ecosystem needs now is simple: an immediate renewal of the incentive — ideally with retroactive effect — to avoid interrupting the momentum that was building.
Announcements are no longer sufficient. Investors, founders and the organizations that support them need timely and coherent decisions.
At the Club degli Investitori, we will continue doing our part: investing capital, sharing experience, and helping founders navigate the difficult early years of building a company.
But if Italy wants its innovation ecosystem to grow in a meaningful way, public policy must support — not slow down — the energy that already exists among entrepreneurs and investors.
The enthusiasm is there.
The talent is there.
The investors are there.
Now the system needs to respond.
