INTESA SANPAOLO ACQUIRES A STAKE IN MATERIAS,
AN ITALIAN TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS INCUBATOR

 

 

• The transaction was finalised by underwriting a reserved capital increase of €1.75 million, or 12.87% of the total corporate stock.
• Materias has committed to using the funds from the operation to implement its 2021-2025 Business Plan.
• Alberto Dal Poz, Comec Founder and CEO, Fondaco Sgr Chairman and former Federmeccanica Chairman has been appointed Board Member of Materias, representing Intesa Sanpaolo.
• Flavio Gianetti: “The acquisition of a stake in the company’s capital falls within the guidelines of our 2018-2021 Business Plan, and will help strengthen our commitment to promoting scientific research and encouraging the growth of the national innovation ecosystem, in synergy with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center”.
• Luigi Nicolais: “Materias allows the brightest ideas and the most solid projects to turn into business for the benefit of science, society and its shareholders”.

Milan/Naples, 15 July 2021 - Intesa Sanpaolo has acquired a stake in Materias, an innovative startup set up in Naples in 2016 with the aim of supporting the world of research and allowing the most promising technologies to overcome the often long and arduous path that, starting from the design phase, eventually leads to the creation, use and marketing of a product or service.

Intesa Sanpaolo finalised the transaction by underwriting a reserved capital increase of €1.75 million, or 12.87% of the total corporate stock. In addition, the Bank subscribed a participative financial instrument convertible in 2024 for an additional share of 1.57%, against an investment of €250,000.

Materias has committed to using the funds from the operation to implement its 2021-2025 Business Plan, which provides for significant revenue growth, thanks, first and foremost, to an increase of royalties and licensing-out resulting from agreements recently entered into or being finalised with certain industrial companies.

Materias works in partnership with leading Italian universities as an incubator of new technologies, and more in particular, in the advanced materials sector. To help the best ideas become reality, the company brings together research and industry, develops innovative solutions and gives life to new science-based companies. So far, it has evaluated more than 1,000 innovative technologies, selecting 15 which, in the acceleration phase, have developed into as many projects for civil engineering, biomedical, agri-food and industrial processes, generating more than 50 national and international patent applications. Two of the accelerated technologies have also given birth to startups Etesias and Sanidrink, which, respectively, deal with 3D printing of concrete structures and innovative water bottles fitted with antimicrobial straws for the sanitation of liquids and beverages.

Materias is chaired by Luigi Nicolais, former Minister and former President of the CNR, and led by its Founder and CEO Caterina Meglio; important national and international companies, such as Dompé Holdings, Ibsa Farmaceutici Italia, Mpa Development and We participate in the corporate structure.

Alberto Dal Poz, Comec Founder and CEO, Fondaco Sgr Chairman and former Federmeccanica Chairman, has been appointed Board Member of Materias, representing Intesa Sanpaolo.

“In selecting the most promising innovative projects, Materias pays the utmost attention to ESG issues and to the circular economy, to include an analysis of any potential environmental and social impacts of the technologies considered”, says Flavio Gianetti, Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Intesa Sanpaolo. “The acquisition of a stake in the company’s capital falls within the guidelines of our 2018-2021 Business Plan, and will help strengthen our commitment to promoting scientific research and encouraging the growth of the national innovation ecosystem, in synergy with the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center”.

“The great potential of Materias rests on a structured relationship with the world of Academia and research, which, in Italy, is particularly rich and fruitful” – said Luigi Nicolais, Materias Chairman. “By staying ahead of its Death Valley curve, Materias allows the brightest ideas and the most solid projects to turn into business for the benefit of science, society and its shareholders”.

 

  

Media Relations

Intesa Sanpaolo

Corporate & Investment Banking and Governance Areas

stampa@intesasanpaolo.com