Press Release
Startup Bakery opens the new capital raise of up to €20M for the next 10 startups. Anticipation for the Bakers Connect on June 18.
After the successful collection at the first Lab, which allowed the launch of the first 3 startups – Veterly, Condeo, and Sencare – the Italian Startup Studio initiates a second, larger Lab to support the next 10 initiatives, the first of which is the already launched EsgMax.
In the meantime, it releases the new “conversational” version of the proprietary software QuSeed, which supports it in identifying and assessing the new needs of the innovation market, and makes it available to third parties through a subscription.
The studio is growing thanks to the exit agreement for EsgMax with the Zucchetti group and new entries into the team. Additionally, the Bakers Club and Delivery Service have been launched, while preparations are underway for the large annual event in June in Milan.
Milan, May 20, 2024 – Up to €20 million. That is the maximum amount that the Italian startup studio Startup Bakery aims to raise with the start of the new fundraising campaign, with the first target set at €3.5 million. The funds will be allocated to support the development and growth of the next generation of sustainable AI-driven B2B SaaS startups, 10 in total, the first of which is the already launched EsgMax.
“Investors participating in our Labs become part of each initiative from the early pre-seed phase, managing to secure a share of 25%. Subsequently, they also participate in the initial funding round. Lastly, they are aware that there will be an initial liquidity event of around €6 million and a final liquidity event targeting around €20 million, within approximately 6 years, ensuring a return of around 10 times the investment for each initiative – commented Alessandro Arrigo, CEO and co-founder of Startup Bakery – Currently, we are raising funds for our second investment vehicle, Startup Bakery Lab 2, dedicated to the new 10 startups in our portfolio. The first of these is EsgMax, already launched and supported by the Zucchetti group, in line with the traditional business strategy of Startup Bakery, for which an exit agreement has already been signed. By closing another 3 agreements like this, we expect to achieve returns exceeding 3 times the investment, a performance that only 5% of VC funds worldwide manage to achieve.”
To date, Startup Bakery has indeed 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 better support our initiatives and facilitate their path, we have decided to centralize fundraising. Therefore, SB Lab 2 can exceed €3.5 million and reach up to €20 million. The more we raise, the more funds will be unlocked for our higher-performing initiatives – added Arrigo – Thanks also to the operation on EsgMax, we have already received interest from investors to enter SB Lab 2. We are happy about this, and being practically at the beginning of the fundraising, we will have no problem involving them. However, probably after the summer, we will change the conditions to protect the investors who believed in our model even before it started to produce results.”
The contexts in which Startup Bakery usually operates are still little digitized, characterized by a significant gap in data usage, where even a small dose of innovation can generate significant returns for the entire sector, with tangible benefits for society. The solutions thus created are all sustainable and relate to at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and are mainly B2B SaaS solutions, integrated with elements of artificial intelligence.
The Studio can indeed rely on experience in AI practices involving machine learning and natural language processing (NLP), funneling them technologically into the proprietary solution QuSeed, which supports the Studio in identifying what in finance are called “weak signals” of the innovation world. Available since April in the new “conversational” release and on subscription to third parties, QuSeed cross-references financial data from business databases (currently Crunchbase) with conversational data from the web (news, blog posts, social posts, etc.), allowing to intercept emerging needs and new trends from the most advanced markets.
“QuSeed operates in English, and this definitely constitutes a competitive advantage – added Angelo Cavallini, COO and co-founder of Startup Bakery– It does not intend to replace investment managers but to provide them with support in the decision-making process. Indeed, the most up-to-date information is often found in online news rather than in business databases, which can only be updated after several months. The final assessment always remains entrusted to the intuition of the experts at Startup Bakery, supported by the experience of the team and empirical evidence.”
Business and exit opportunities are evaluated by technicians, entrepreneurs, and investors: the latter are able to exponentially multiply exit opportunities for startups thanks to their network of relationships. If in the traditional Venture Capital path startups grow mainly through financial input, in the Startup Bakery path these grow mainly thanks to industrial partners. An asset that has recently been structured in the newly established Bakers Club, thanks also to the entry of Margherita Colaceci as Investor Relations Manager: an environment useful for creating networking opportunities, keeping investors informed, and providing negotiation tables for startups.
Finally, through the Delivery Service and the appointment of Guido Pezzin to lead its development, the Studio has started to make available to third parties some components of its startup production chain: from identifying needs to automating processes, from the effective establishment of a team, validating the business idea, developing an MVP, scouting co-founders, implementing practical and effective artificial intelligence, to adopting agile product development processes.
All elements of a growth and expansion path for the Studio that will be presented on the occasion of the third edition of Bakers Connect, the annual Startup Bakery event open to investors and prominent figures in the Open Innovation landscape, this year scheduled for June 18 at the modern premises of the WAO PL7 in Milan.
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Startup Bakery
Startup Bakery is the Italian startup studio founded by Alessandro Arrigo and Angelo Cavallini in February 2020 with the aim of creating sustainable B2B SaaS companies with a strong component of artificial intelligence and enabling founders, companies, and professional investors to express their potential.
Unlike the typical approach in Venture Capital, Startup Bakery focuses on engaging industrial partners to enhance its initiatives. This path aims to reduce the level of risk in starting up while maintaining high returns for its Limited Partners.
The Studio guarantees a serial application of tools, skills, and methodologies already present in the team and supports the co-founder in all stages, from fundraising to exit, gradually making them increasingly independent. Thanks to a proprietary algorithm, it can rely on advanced capabilities for collecting and processing market data to identify interesting niches to focus on, while the cyclical validation of initiated projects is ensured by applying 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).
