Milan-based Eureka! Venture SGR has announced the launch of Eureka! Fund II – Deep Tech Lazio, a venture capital vehicle dedicated to deep tech and STEP technologies. The fund reached a first closing of approximately €20 million, anchored by a €16 million commitment from Lazio Innova under the Lazio Venture 2 initiative. It will focus on technology transfer, industrialization, and the growth of companies with strong proprietary innovation.
Investment Mandate and Strategic Objectives
The new fund operates as the successor to Eureka! Fund I – Technology Transfer, which was launched in 2020 to support early-stage technology commercialization. It maintains continuity of team, strategy, and investment approach while widening the perimeter of intervention. The fund will back spin-offs, startups, and innovative SMEs during initial development, industrial validation, and growth phases.
Eureka! Fund II prioritizes proprietary technologies, intellectual property, and scientific know-how across both hardware and software solutions. It explicitly seeks businesses characterized by high technological barriers to entry and the capacity for international expansion. The broader goal is to support companies that develop innovative products and processes while strengthening European technological competitiveness and strategic resilience.
Priority Sectors and Regional Ecosystem
The fund will invest in strategic areas including climate change and energy transition, sustainability and circular economy, advanced manufacturing, mobility, infrastructure and logistics, security and defense, and longevity. Its mandate also covers European STEP technologies, with particular attention to advanced manufacturing and robotics, artificial intelligence and Physical AI, quantum technologies, and materials science. This broad scope reflects an emphasis on critical technologies that can reinforce competitiveness, resilience, and strategic autonomy.
Although the fund has a clear regional focus, it will conduct scouting nationally rather than restricting its search to Lazio. Investments will concentrate on companies that have or intend to build an active presence in Lazio, with the goal of strengthening the regional ecosystem and attracting technology, skills, businesses, and capital. The Lazio region remains one of Italy's main research and innovation hubs, and Eureka! Venture has maintained an office in Rome since 2022.
Capital Structure and Market Perspective
Lazio Innova participates as anchor investor through resources from the PR FESR 2021–2027 program and the Lazio Venture 2 initiative. The fund uses an asymmetric allocation mechanism for returns and losses, designed to improve the risk-return profile for private investors. According to Stefano Peroncini, Chief Executive Officer of Eureka! Venture SGR, this structure aims to mobilize new private capital toward deep tech and early-stage innovation.
Anna Amati, Partner at Eureka! Venture SGR, said the fund builds on the firm's previous technology-transfer experience while expanding into strategic technologies such as Physical AI. She noted that Lazio offers a favorable context due to its scientific research quality, technological expertise, and articulated industrial fabric. Andrea Ciampalini, Director-General of Lazio Innova, said the investment consolidates a model oriented toward research valorization and proprietary technologies.
With its first closing at approximately €20 million, Eureka! Fund II – Deep Tech Lazio represents a further step in the professionalization of Italian venture capital and technology transfer. The vehicle combines public anchor capital with private participation to address a critical gap between research and industrial scale. Its deployment will test how effectively science-led companies can transition into industrial businesses with a meaningful regional presence.