TIM Ventures

TIM Ventures is the corporate venture capital arm of Telecom Italia (TIM Group), founded in 2014 and frequently cited as Italy's first corporate venture capital vehicle. Headquartered in Milan, with TIM itself based in Rome, it identifies and supports startups and SMEs offering digital solutions aligned with TIM's business strategy. Its areas of interest span network, cloud, internet of things, cybersecurity, payments, education and sustainability. At launch the programme committed EUR 4.5 million of seed investments over three years and sought to attract a matching EUR 4.5 million from other national and international investors. The firm typically completes between two and six deals per year, with individual cheques usually in the range of roughly USD 100,000 to USD 1 million, generally as a co-investor, and also invests directly through the Northgate and UV T-Growth funds, of which it is the promoter and main investor. To date TIM Ventures has made on the order of 27 investments and recorded three exits, its latest exit being Askdata in July 2022. Its CEO is Carlo Blefari Melazzi, leading a small team. Selected portfolio companies include Satispay, a payments scale-up whose round TIM Ventures co-led, alongside Weschool, Askdata, Pedius, Webidoo, Wallife and ORAN. By aligning its investments with Telecom Italia's strategic priorities across connectivity, cloud and digital services, TIM Ventures supports Italian and international startups whose technologies complement the group's business while pursuing financial returns.