From cybersecurity to autonomous driving, car washes, and proptech: the Italian innovation market continues to attract significant capital. From million-dollar funding rounds and strategic acquisitions to startups founded by Italian entrepreneurs abroad, here are some of the most interesting deals to watch.
Depthfirst
The cybersecurity startup, co-founded in 2025 by two Italians—Daniele Perito (former co-founder of the unicorn Faire) and Andrea Michi (former researcher at Google DeepMind)—along with Qasim Mithani, has closed an $80 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Meritech Capital with participation from Forerunner Ventures, The House Fund, and existing investors, including Accel, Box Group, Liquid 2 Ventures, Alt Capital, and Mantis VC. This latest transaction, announced less than three months after the company’s public debut—which was accompanied by a $40 million Series A—brings the total capital raised to $120 million.
Pop Wash
Trifoglio srl, a Mantua-based startup known by the brand Pop Wash, a hub for car wash facilities that are integrated by unifying operational standards, shared aesthetic guidelines, and centralized communication, has secured an investment round of over €30 million subscribed by new industrial and financial partners, including Luca Pretto, CEO of Conceria Pasubio and anchor investor in the project, through his Luca Pretto Holding srl, and Paolo Frigati, CEO of Persea Italia (organic avocados). With this capital increase, the total funding raised by the startup—founded in February 2025 by brothers Marco and Davide di Biase—reaches €35 million.
Niulinx
The deep-tech startup, a spin-off of the Politecnico di Milano specializing in autonomous driving, has closed a €38 million funding round. The anchor investors in the round are A2A, through A2A Life Ventures, and CDP Venture Capital sgr, through the Artificial Intelligence Fund. Other participants in the round included AFL, the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, Pirelli, VC Partners sgr (through the VC Partners Fund I), MOST – National Center for Sustainable Mobility, the ICO Falck Foundation, Emilio Frazzoli (former CTO of nuTonomy/Motional, now a professor at ETH Zurich), and Stefano Bernardi.
Casavo
The Milan-based proptech platform founded in 2017 by Giorgio Tinacci for real estate sales and purchases has acquired Casando Agency (Realtors Group srl), a real estate agency with a network of over 60 agents in Italy’s top 10 cities. The transaction was financed through a new €12 million equity round, in which the majority of existing investors (including Project A, Picus Capital, EVRG 18, and Salica Investments) participated, along with new investors, and which also served to strengthen the group’s capital structure. The goal is to continue growing organically while also integrating additional networks of real estate agents.
(Article excerpted from issue no. 90 of May 2026 of We Wealth)
