A new early-stage agri-foodtech venture capital fund, Maia Ventures, has launched in Italy with a €55 million first close, positioning itself at the forefront of a more pragmatic and technically rigorous wave of investors. Rather than chasing hype, Maia aims to scale start-ups that are “under the radar” and “need polishing, not reinvention”.
Backing science-driven start-ups with industrial pull
Maia Ventures plans to invest in 20 to 25 companies, with initial ticket sizes ranging from €0.5 to €1.5 million. The fund is already fully operational, with six portfolio companies spanning biotech, food safety, plant-based nutrition, and genomic analysis.
The LP base includes institutional heavyweights like the European Investment Fund (EIF) and CDP Venture Capital Sgr, alongside leading Italian food corporates and their family offices, such as Cereal Docks, Andriani, and Teseo Capital.
“We deliberately didn’t prioritize ‘tourist LPs’”, said David Bassani, founding partner at Maia Ventures, adding that the fund focused on institutions, family offices and food-industry insiders “who live the problems we want founders to solve”.
A new VC playbook for innovation?
Raising a fund in the current climate “wasn’t easy,” amid more tightened agri-foodtech capital, Bassani revealed.
Maia’s strategy reflects a broader rethinking of venture capital’s role in agri-foodtech. The team – made up of former founders, scientists, and industry operators – emphasizes deep technical diligence, early corporate engagement, and business model discipline.
“Some generalist VCs applied a Silicon Valley playbook to a sector with different go-to-market models, capex and supply chains and left when it didn’t translate into exits,” Bassani told AgTechNavigator. “We’re part of a new, more disciplined wave.”
Maia’s approach avoids reliance on “green premiums” and VC-funded capex. Instead, it encourages partnerships and joint ventures with industry players to scale capital-efficient models and build optionality for both strategic and financial exits.
It does not publish a target holding period. “Our goal is optionality,” he explained, “to design companies to be attractive both to strategic acquirers and to financial buyers by building healthy P&Ls and scalable, capital-efficient models,” he said.
Polishing Italy’s hidden gems – and attracting global talent
Maia sees unique potential in Italian start-ups, citing the country’s world-class food industry, strong university labs, and scientific depth.
“Many teams are under the radar and need polishing rather than reinvention,” said Bassani. “Our playbook is two-way: surface and polish Italian science to compete on a European stage, and bring the best non-Italian start-ups into Italy’s industrial network for validation and scale-up.”
The fund’s thematic focus spans:
- Next-gen agriculture: tech-enabled solutions for soil health, efficiency, and resilience
- Circular bioeconomy & waste reduction
- Digitization of the food system: software-first tools for value chain efficiency
Portfolio Snapshot: Six start-ups already backed
Maia Ventures has already invested in six companies, including:
- Forever Land – chocolate alternative made from Italian carob and forgotten crops
- Exolab Italia – biotech extracting plant-derived exosomes from organic produce
- Biorsaf – SaaS platform for food safety compliance
- Lembas – biotech engineering peptides for GLP response via functional foods
- Cappellini – ready-to-eat plant-based meals with high nutritional value
- GenoGra – genomic analysis SaaS for seed breeding and life sciences
“We invested in Maia Ventures because it connects Italy’s world-class food industry with breakthrough agri-foodtech innovation,” added Claudia Pingue, head of tech transfer fund of CDP Venture Capital.
