After the successful raise on the first Lab, which allowed the launch of the first 3 startups, Veterly, Condeo and Sencare, the Italian Startup Studio launches a larger second Lab in support of the next 10 initiatives, the first of which is the already launched ESGmax.
Meanwhile it releases the new “conversational” version of its proprietary software QuSeed, which supports it in identifying and assessing the new needs of the innovation market, and makes it available to third parties by subscription.
The studio grows thanks to the exit agreement for ESGmax with the Zucchetti group and to new arrivals in the team. The Bakers Club and the Delivery Service have also been launched, while preparations are under way for the major annual event in Milan in June.
Milan, 20 May 2024: Up to 20 million euros. This is the ceiling the Italian startup studio Startup Bakery aims to raise with the launch of its new campaign, with a first target set at 3.5 million euros. The funds will be used to support the development and growth of the next generation of sustainable B2B SaaS startups with strong Artificial Intelligence traction, 10 in total, the first of which is the already launched ESGmax.
“The investors taking part in our Labs become part of every initiative from the initial pre-seed phase, managing to secure a 25% share. Subsequently, they also take part in the initial funding round. Finally, they are aware that there will be an initial liquidity event of around €6M and a final liquidity event aiming at around €20M, over roughly 6 years, guaranteeing a return of around 10 times the investment for each initiative, commented Alessandro Arrigo, CEO and co-founder of Startup Bakery, We are currently raising funds for our second investment vehicle, Startup Bakery Lab 2, which is dedicated to the 10 new startups in our portfolio. The first of these is ESGmax, already launched and supported by the Zucchetti group, in line with Startup Bakery’s traditional business strategy, and for which an exit agreement has already been signed. By closing another 3 agreements like this one, we expect to obtain returns above 3 times the investment, a performance only 5% of VC funds worldwide manage to reach”.
To date Startup Bakery has in fact already invested in and concretely launched 4 startups: Veterly (2021, PetTech, €530,000 raised); Condeo (2022, PropTech, €920,000 raised); Sencare (2022, HealthTech, €500,000); ESGmax (2023, Sustainability, €800,000 raised and exit agreement for February 2025).
“To support our initiatives ever better and ease their path, we decided to centralise the fundraising. That is why SB Lab 2 can exceed 3.5 million and reach up to 20. The more we raise, the more funds will be unlocked for our best-performing initiatives, added Arrigo*, Thanks also to the ESGmax operation, we have already been receiving interest from investors wanting to join SB Lab 2. We are happy about this and, being practically at the start of the raise, we will have no problem letting them take part. Probably, though, after the summer we will change the conditions, to protect the investors who believed in our model even before it started producing results”.*
The contexts Startup Bakery usually operates in are those still little digitised, characterised by a considerable gap in the use of data, where even a small dose of innovation can generate significant returns for the entire sector, with tangible benefits for society. The solutions thus built are all sustainable and connected to at least one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and are mainly B2B SaaS solutions integrated with elements of artificial intelligence.
The Studio can in fact count on experience in AI practices involving machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), channelled technologically into the proprietary solution QuSeed, which supports the Studio in identifying what in finance are called the “weak signals” of the world of innovation. Available since April in the new “conversational” release and by subscription to third parties too, QuSeed crosses financial data from business databases (today Crunchbase) with conversational data from the web (news, blog posts, social posts and so on), making it possible to intercept emerging needs and new trends from the most advanced markets.
“QuSeed works in English and this is certainly a competitive advantage, added Angelo Cavallini, COO and co-founder of Startup Bakery*, It does not intend to replace investment managers so much as to support them in the decision-making process. Often, in fact, the most up-to-date information is found in online news rather than in company databases, which may only be updated several months later. The final assessment always remains entrusted to the intuition of Startup Bakery’s experts, supported by the team’s experience and by empirical evidence”.*
Business and exit opportunities are in any case assessed by technicians, entrepreneurs and investors: the latter are able to multiply exit opportunities for the startups exponentially, thanks to their network of relationships. If in the classic Venture Capital path startups grow mainly thanks to financial input, in the Startup Bakery path they grow above all thanks to industrial partners. An asset that has recently been structured into the newly born Bakers Club, thanks also to the arrival of Margherita Colaceci as Investor Relations Manager: an environment useful for creating networking occasions, keeping investors up to date and bringing negotiation tables to the startups.
Finally, through the Delivery Service and the appointment of Guido Pezzin to lead its development, the Studio has begun making available to third parties certain components of its own startup production chain: from identifying needs to automating processes, to effectively building a team, validating the business idea, developing an MVP, scouting co-founders, implementing concrete and effective Artificial Intelligence, and adopting agile product development processes.
All elements of a path of growth and expansion for the Studio that will be presented at the third edition of Bakers Connect, Startup Bakery’s annual event open to investors and prominent figures in the Open Innovation landscape, this year scheduled for 18 June in the modern spaces of the WAO PL7 complex in Milan.
Startup Bakery
Startup Bakery is the Italian startup studio founded by Alessandro Arrigo and Angelo Cavallini in February 2020 with the goal of bringing to life sustainable B2B SaaS companies with a strong Artificial Intelligence component, and of allowing founders, companies and professional investors to express their potential.
Contrary to what usually happens in the Venture Capital world, Startup Bakery relies on the involvement of industrial partners to put its initiatives to work. This path aims to reduce the degree of risk of doing startups, while maintaining high returns for its Limited Partners.
The Studio guarantees the serial application of tools, skills and methodologies already present in the team, and stands beside the co-founder through every phase, from the raise to the exit, making them progressively more independent. Thanks to a proprietary algorithm, it can count on advanced capabilities for collecting and processing market data in order to identify niches of interest to occupy, while the cyclical validation of the initiatives launched is guaranteed by the application of the lean method.
To date Startup Bakery has launched and invested in 4 startups: Veterly (2021, PetTech, €530,000 raised); Condeo (2022, PropTech, €920,000 raised); Sencare (2022, HealthTech, €500,000); ESGmax (2023, Sustainability, €800,000 and exit agreement for February 2025).
