New €300m Angelini Ventures fund combines venture creation and direct investments to pave the way for healthcare transformation
As many strive to bring about transformation in healthcare, Angelini Ventures takes a new approach to investments in digital health and life sciences companies that drive healthcare innovation and improve patient experiences.
Healthcare transformation has been a widely discussed topic for years, with many arguing for a more streamlined and tech- and data-driven approach to the industry that affects all people. As technology has evolved and patient needs have shifted to expect consumer-friendly, digital-enabled healthcare experiences, there’s been an even more forceful push toward personalised, precise, and integrated healthcare models.
Angelini Ventures, the recently launched venture capital arm of Angelini Industries, aims to take on the need for healthcare innovation. The fund, led by managing directors Paolo Di Giorgio, who also serves as CEO, and Elia Stupka, will use its €300 million capital commitment to invest in early-stage and innovative biotechnology, digital health, and life sciences companies to help them realise their vision for the future of healthcare.
“By investing in innovative companies, we will both contribute to their growth and drive toward healthcare transformation together,” says Stupka.
Introducing Angelini Ventures
The Angelini Ventures team will leverage the strength of the Angelini Group – which spans the pharmaceutical, consumer goods, and technology industries and is present in more than 20 countries. It aims to shape companies in the digital healthcare, connected medical devices, and life sciences spaces. Long-term, the firm aims to focus on therapeutic and preventative technology solutions that address unmet needs in some of the most underserved and vulnerable segments of society: women, children, and the elderly.
“The Angelini Group has a strong history of presence in healthcare, but we recognise that a lot of innovation will come from start-ups or external companies,” Di Giorgio says. “Looking at the future, our goals are not only to support the business, but also to diversify and build something new.”
Angelini Ventures isn’t a typical corporate venture capital firm. Firstly, its team brings a breadth of expertise, from consumer to life sciences to medical, with particular subject matter knowledge in specific areas such as brain health.
In addition, the team is intentionally global. Rather than hosting employees daily in a centralised office or asking new partners to relocate, Angelini Ventures hires colleagues across geographies who can bring their expertise to a global team, Stupka explains. Today, the team spans three continents, with people in Rome, Singapore, Boston, Copenhagen, and Milan. To complement virtual connections, the team meets every two months at the Casa Angelini headquarters in Rome for intense one-week deep dives, brainstorming sessions, and team bonding activities.
“We see this as an advantage, hiring people who are good at what they do in their local market; we don’t want to change that,” Di Giorgio says. "You don’t have to all be in the HQ, you need to be where the action is – where the start-ups are – and understand the local trends.”
Thus far, Angelini Ventures has made several global investments to expand its portfolio. While the companies are diverse in function – the current portfolio includes a dedicated fund with Lumira Ventures in North America, two venture studios (one in Paris and one in Italy), as well as direct investments in biotech and digital health companies – they're united by the values Di Giorgio, Stupka, and team look for in their investments.
“We look for a strong and passionate team with reliable management and the right mix of domain expertise, go-to-market excellence, and financial wisdom to overachieve on their business plan,” Stupka says. “We look for innovative, transformational products and services in life sciences and digital health with a focus on specific segments such as brain health and women’s health.”
Extending the impact of academic research
One of the fund’s latest investments is in Extend, a new joint venture between Evotec, CDP Venture Capital, and Angelini Ventures which will leverage the best of scientific research from Italian academic institutions to support the development and commercialisation of promising therapeutics.
Angelini Ventures will lend its network and knowledge of the life sciences industry to “strengthen the bridge between the excellence of Italian academic research and the development of drug discovery programmes in order to identify new treatment options,” said Angelini Industries CEO Professor Sergio Marullo di Condojanni in a statement.
Improving mental health treatment access in Italy
Angelini Ventures is also supporting Serenis, a company committed to facilitating access to quality mental healthcare in Italy. With its digital platform, Serenis matches mental health patients and their specific needs to high quality, certified psychotherapists in a personalised, affordable, accessible way to remove access barriers for those seeking care.
Angelini Ventures believes that this investment adds to its existing portfolio of brain health solutions by expanding treatment options for patients suffering from mental health challenges.
“The last few years have put a spotlight on mental health,” said Stupka in a statement. “Serenis provides a unique platform that matches patients in need with certified therapists. Our investment provides an opportunity to expand Angelini Ventures’ mental health focus with a digital health solution.”
Creating ecosystems to inspire novel ideas
By fostering new environments for companies and individuals to collaborate, healthcare creates opportunities for innovation to thrive. Through Angelini Ventures’ support as a partner of VITA Accelerator, the first digital health start-up accelerator programme in Italy, the venture firm has helped accelerate Paperbox, a pre-seed stage company focused on developing solutions for people with learning disabilities. Paperbox was previously incubated by Angelini Ventures as part of the Vento venture originator programme by Exor Seeds.
“We are proud to contribute to the Italian and broader global ecosystem supporting the creation and growth of start-ups solving unmet medical needs,” says Filippo Piazza, associate at Angelini Ventures who is leading this strategic partnership. “Paperbox is a great example of how healthcare can be significantly improved by leveraging technology, which is also the goal of VITA, therefore we are sharing the path with this accelerator to help bring true scale and innovation to the digital health ecosystem in Italy and Europe.”
Supporting efforts to address mitochondrial diseases
Mitochondrial dysfunctions cause more than 50 diseases, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases and rare genetic disorders. Pretzel Therapeutics, headquartered in Boston, aims to develop genetic therapies that fix many of these disorders, and Angelini Ventures supports this work through its participation in the company’s Series A round.
“Pretzel Therapeutics is well positioned to be a leading company in the mitochondrial disease space with an excellent team of drug developers and academic scientists. We strongly believe in and support its mission to bring innovative therapeutics in mitochondrial disorders with high medical needs,” says Di Giorgio, who is a board observer in Pretzel therapeutics.
Empowering tomorrow’s innovation by supporting European start-ups
Angelini Ventures has also joined other European investors to support Argobio Studio SAS, a Paris-based start-up studio. The investment's objective is to support the growth of innovative start-ups as they identify and create novel therapies for oncology, immunology, neurological disorders, and rare diseases.
“ArgoBio Studio SAS is designed to actively seek out cutting-edge research from academic institutions,” says Thomas Thestrup, investment director at Angelini Ventures.
By 2026, Argobio Studio SAS will create and launch five or more biotech companies. Angelini Ventures will participate in incubating the companies, lending its life sciences and business expertise to entrepreneurs who strive to improve patient health.
“Promising research frequently does not have a chance to reach patients. ArgoBio Studio will actually help in this situation,” Thestrup says. “ArgoBio Studio SAS not only advances innovative solutions but also increases the likelihood of success, which will ultimately benefit patients. This is accomplished by having ‘entrepreneurs in residence’ who actively engage in the assessment of scientific opportunities and drive the project forward.”
Investing in novel pharmaceuticals for CNS disorders and rare diseases
Among Angelini Ventures’ early investments was the Angelini Lumira Biosciences Fund (ALBF), an effort between Angelini Industries and Lumira Ventures. Launched in 2021, the ALBF invests in early-stage companies in Canada and the U.S. that develop pharmaceuticals for CNS disorders and rare diseases.
“Through our collective knowledge, experience, and passion, we are laser-focused on identifying transformative discoveries with the potential to improve the health of patients living with CNS diseases, including neuropsychiatric indications,” Angelini Ventures and Lumira shared in a statement.
The ALBF has thus far invested in four companies to support the development of novel therapies for patients. One of the portfolio companies is DAMONA Pharmaceuticals, a developer of therapies for patients living with the cognitive effects of depression. Through this investment and others, the ALBF hopes to, according to the statement, “stimulate deeper conversations and greater understanding, while continuing to support new treatments with a promise to improve care for mental disorders at a global scale.”
Fuelling innovation for the future of healthcare
Through its investments in these companies and ventures, alongside others in its pipeline, Angelini Ventures aims to power novel ideas and breakthrough science. The firm’s ultimate goal is for its investments to transform the future of healthcare, improving care experiences for patients.
In the coming years, the fund will continue to build a network of innovative companies and healthcare thought leaders. Di Giorgio, Stupka, and their growing team will leverage the strength of the Angelini Group to identify, learn from, and guide trailblazing companies as they scale.
“In 10 to 20 years, we want to look back and see our impact to human health as part of a larger team effort between entrepreneurs and investors to develop solutions that drastically change the quality of life for patients,” Di Giorgio says.
About the interviewees
Paolo Di Giorgio is the chief executive officer and managing director of Angelini Ventures. He is currently a board member of Argobio and Extend, an observer board member of Pretzel Therapeutics, GenEp, and Archlight Therapeutics, and a member of the investment committee of the Angelini Lumira Bioscience Fund. Paolo is a life sciences executive with over 20 years of experience in venture capital, R&D, external innovation, and business development. Prior to founding Angelini Ventures, Paolo was the head of external innovation R&D at Angelini Pharma, where he led their pre-clinical development group with multiple programmes in the areas of CNS and anti-infectives.
Elia Stupka is a visionary leader with a passion for innovation in healthcare, technology and life sciences. He has 20+ years of experience across industry, academic and clinical settings, and is currently managing director of Angelini Ventures. He is on the board of Genialis, an AI drug discovery company, and a venture partner at First Star Ventures, a Boston-based deep tech fund. He served on the scientific advisory board of Alkahest, a regenerative medicine company later to sold to Grifols, and Healx, a fast-growing AI-driven biotech company. He has been/is an advisor to fast-growing start-ups ranging from biotech to health tech to deep tech, such as Duality Technologies (Israel), Entropica Labs (Singapore), Cardea Bio (US), Pulse Infoframe (Canada), Etcembly (UK), and Raremark (UK), as well as not-for-profits such as RebootRX (Boston) and Esperare Foundation (Switzerland).
Thomas Thestrup is passionate about life science, technology, and entrepreneurship and thrives where innovation lives. He has 15 years of experience in research, health tech, and the pharma industry. Thomas is currently investment director at Angelini Ventures. Prior to joining Angelini Ventures, Thomas worked for Lundbeck as director of corporate business development and strategy. In his role, he was responsible for the in-licensing of therapeutic assets in the CNS space, as well as leading strategic projects such as Lundbeck's global corporate digital strategy and business development for digital health.
Filippo Piazza is investments associate at Angelini Ventures, involved in sourcing and closing new investments, supporting portfolio companies, and contributing to the overall fund strategy. Prior to joining Angelini Ventures, Filippo supported new investments and portfolio management at TIM Ventures, TIM's corporate venture arm, reporting to the group CFO. He invested in platforms and marketplaces such as Satispay, contributing to corporate development through active board-level involvement. Filippo was also involved in the launch of UV T-Growth, Italy's largest venture capital growth investment fund, and a venture for German accelerator Rocket Internet.
About Angelini Ventures
Angelini Ventures, the venture capital arm of Angelini Industries, is an early-stage investments firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in digital health and life sciences. The group will invest €300m across a global portfolio led by investment professionals and advisors in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Angelini Ventures has deep domain expertise and leverages a global team, advisors, and strategic partners to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses into transformative category-leading companies.
