Bologna, Italy — 11 May 2026 – On 11 and 12 May, Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna region will once again host what has become one of the most anticipated gatherings dedicated to venture capital, start-ups, and emerging technologies: the fourth edition of The Bologna Gathering (TBG), whose founding partners are ART-ER, the Metropolitan City and Municipality of Bologna, and the Emilia-Romagna Region. The event will bring together more than 500 innovation leaders from Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

Assets under management among participating funds exceed €50bn this year, up from €39bn in the previous edition, while capital raised by participating start-ups and scale-ups surpasses €1.2bn. The event is by invitation only and is designed to connect the most important players in innovation: investment funds, senior executives from Italian and international corporates, and founders of unicorns and scale-ups active across more than 15 technology sectors, from artificial intelligence and the space economy to cloud and cybersecurity.

The fourth edition of the event is shaped by two clear dynamics. The first is that Europe has committed to building its own technological sovereignty, accelerating the development of its start-up ecosystem. The second is that Italy is emerging as a fast-growing technology hub where venture capitalists from around the world want to invest. In this journey, Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna region continue to strengthen their role as a strategic platform for innovation, through The Bologna Gathering and thanks to assets such as the DAMA Technopole — home to Leonardo, one of the ten most powerful AI supercomputers in the world — and IT4LIA AI Factory, an internationally recognised project promoting the adoption of artificial intelligence in Italy and Europe.

Against an increasingly complex geopolitical scenario, this edition highlights how Europe is building its technological independence in the most strategic sectors of the coming decade: from artificial intelligence to defence and cybersecurity, from space to autonomous driving, through to sovereign cloud infrastructure. Key participants include companies developing strategic European technologies such as Axelera AI, Cubbit, Exein, Niulinx, SiPearl, and many others, confirming that Europe's technology ecosystem is developing its own champions and becoming increasingly competitive on a global scale.

“ART-ER is among the founders of The Bologna Gathering because the event represents a unique opportunity to connect Emilia-Romagna’s innovation ecosystem with the most advanced international networks in venture capital and technology. Our objective is to strengthen the region's positioning as a strategic hub for European technological sovereignty, attracting talent, investment, and high-impact projects. In line with this, and simultaneously with TBG, we have launched the first edition of R2I Research to Innovate Italy, an event organised by ART-ER together with the Emilia-Romagna Region and the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, created with the aim of placing regional territories and innovation ecosystems at the heart of national and European policy,” said Marina Silverii, Executive Director of ART-ER.

“Bologna is increasingly establishing itself as a European point of reference for innovation and emerging technologies, - said Matteo Lepore, Mayor of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Bologna. “The Bologna Gathering is a concrete opportunity to connect talent, capital, and businesses, strengthening the role of our city and Emilia-Romagna as a strategic platform for the development of a competitive technology ecosystem that is open to the world.  In a complex global context, investing in research, artificial intelligence, and new businesses means building Europe’s future starting from our regions, and Bologna is ready to play its part with vision and responsibility.  Our commitment is to continue strengthening this path, making Bologna an urban laboratory where technological development and social cohesion grow together, and where innovation becomes a concrete tool to improve people’s lives.”

"Never before has Europe asked itself so urgently how to turn the continent’s new technology companies into global champions. At a time when tech made in Europe will become increasingly strategic, Italy must play a central role in this journey. The Bologna Gathering was created precisely to connect the best international investors with the best Italian companies, creating, through a private, relationship-driven format, the conditions for the best of our ecosystem to grow with European and global ambition," — Stefano Onofri and Alessandro Cillario, originators of the event and co-founders of Cubbit, a leading European scale-up in distributed cloud technologies.

The Bologna Gathering is a tangible example of public–private collaboration, produced by the StartYouUp association and Cubbit. Key partners of the 2026 edition are the BI-REX Competence Centre and IT4LIA AI Factory, with SAP as gold sponsor, FNDX as silver sponsor, and the support of CTE-COBO, G-Factor (Fondazione Golinelli), Almacube, Gianni & Origoni, MUG Magazzini Generativi, and Qonto.

www.bolognagathering.com

ART-ER Media Relations

ufficiostampa@art-er.it

Raffaella Agostini

+393476545366

 

Cubbit Media Relations

Francesco Pazzaglia

francesco.pazzaglia@cubbit.io

 

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FACT SHEET

Investors from around the world

On the venture capital front, the most prominent names include Saul Klein, co-founder of LocalGlobe and its holding company Phoenix Court — a venture capital group that has established itself as No. 1 in EMEA and in the top 0.01% of funds globally according to the Dealroom 2025 report — and Emanuele Levi, Chief Executive Officer of CDP Venture Capital, Italy's leading venture capital fund. Alongside them are international players including White Star Capital (a global fund with offices in New York, London, Paris, Toronto, Tokyo, and Singapore), BlackRock (the world's largest private equity firm by assets under management, according to Dealroom), and Woven Capital (the venture arm of the Toyota Group). On the European front, participants include ETF Partners (a London-based fund among the most respected in Europe for sustainability-focused investing), DTCP (a German fund that in January 2026 launched a €500m vehicle dedicated to defence and security technologies), Hitachi Ventures (the venture arm of the Hitachi Group), and Eurazeo (a world-leading investment company with 14 offices worldwide and capital invested in more than 600 companies).

Record-breaking deals from participating scale-ups

The 2026 edition also highlights some of the most significant transactions in the European technology landscape over recent months. Key participants include Fabrizio Del Maffeo, CEO and co-founder of Axelera AI, a Dutch scale-up of Italian origin specialising in artificial intelligence, which raised $250m in February 2026; and Gerardo Gagliardo, co-founder of Exein, the cybersecurity scale-up behind Italy's record double round in 2025, with €70m and €100m raised. Also attending are Luca Foresti, CEO and founder of Niulinx, a start-up specialising in autonomous driving that raised €38m in April 2026 — the largest European seed round ever recorded in the sector; Luca Rodella, CEO and co-founder of Smartness, an AI hospitality start-up that closed a €47m Series B round in May 2026; and Daniele Pucci, CEO of Generative Bionics, a humanoid robotics start-up that closed a €70m round in December 2025, among the largest in Europe in the sector.

International investment arriving in Italy

The trend is confirmed by the data. According to PitchBook's Q1 2026 Italy Market Snapshot, Italy recorded 225 VC funding rounds in the first quarter of 2026 — 80% more than the same period the previous year, and the highest figure of any quarter over the past decade. Further evidence of this trend comes from the presence, among The Bologna Gathering 2026 investors, of Rocio Pillado (Adara Ventures), Charlotte Lafont (Ring Capital), and Briehan Burke (Keen Venture Partners): three leading figures in European venture capital who are actively seeking Italian technologies to invest in, and whose participation confirms that the Italian ecosystem is attracting increasingly qualified international attention.

Corporations supporting innovation

Alongside investors and scale-up founders, The Bologna Gathering will bring together major industrial groups and corporates interested in close dialogue around innovation, partnerships, and technological transformation. These include SAP, Leonardo, Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, Scaleway, Klarna, Lamborghini, Fastweb + Vodafone, Zanichelli, Mitsubishi Corporation, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ducati, and Ferrari.

Event venues

The fourth edition will unfold across some of the region’s most symbolic venues. The first day will feature appointments hosted at prestigious locations across the city: Bologna Business School, the Ducati Museum, BI-REX, and Palazzo Magnani. The second day will centre on the DAMA Technopole, now one of the key hubs of European innovation, while the Gala Dinner will be held at Palazzo Re Enzo, in the heart of Piazza Maggiore. This choice reflects the organisers’ commitment to bringing together the quality of relationships, the centrality of the region, and the symbolic value of the places that represent the region’s technological transformation.

The 2026 programme

The 2026 programme features a series of high-profile moments, including addresses by Ekaterina Zaharieva (European Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation), Francesca Bria (President, ART-ER), Matteo Lepore (Mayor, Municipality and Metropolitan City of Bologna), and Michele de Pascale (President, Emilia-Romagna Region). A conversation will also take place between Alec Ross (technology policy expert, entrepreneur, and distinguished professor), Saul Klein (Founder, LocalGlobe & Phoenix Court), Emanuele Levi (CEO, CDP Venture Capital), and Briehan Burke (General Partner, Keen Venture Partners). Further speakers include Francesco Ubertini (President, CINECA), Fabrizio Del Maffeo (CEO and co-founder, Axelera AI), Claudio Domenicali (CEO, Ducati), Frédéric Pascal (Managing Director of Global Private Markets, SAP), Gerardo Gagliardo (Co-founder, Exein), Patrick Sheehan (Managing Partner and Founder, ETF Partners), Sebastiano Toffaletti (CEO, European DIGITAL SME Alliance), Xixi Richter (Executive Director, BlackRock), Martina Domenicali (Co-founder, Lexroom), and many others.

In synergy with The Bologna Gathering, on 12 and 13 May, Bologna will also host R2I — Research to Innovate Italy, the new national event dedicated to bringing together business, research, institutions, and regional ecosystems. 

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📢 Line-up Preview | The Bologna Gathering 2026

 

🌍 International VC Investors

Adara Ventures, Armilar, BlackRock, Chausson Partners, Contrarian Ventures, Draper B1, DTCP, ENGIE New Ventures, ETF Partners, Eurazeo, Evolution Equity Partners, Fil Rouge Capital, Founders Factory, Founders Future, Future Energy Ventures (FEV), Hitachi Ventures, Indico Capital Partners, Jolt Capital, Keen Venture Partners, Left Lane Capital, LocalGlobe, Nauta Capital, Norrsken Evolve, Omnes Capital, OTB Ventures, Partech Venture, Phoenix Court, Picus Capital, PSG Equity, Ring Capital, Senovo, SM Capital, SoftBank, Speedinvest, Startup Wise Guys, Swisscanto Private Equity, Tera Ventures, Uni.Fund, Verve Ventures, VI Partners, White Star Capital, Woven Capital

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🌱VC Investors & Family Offices (based in Italy)

360 Capital, Alecla7, Alkemia Capital, Alpha Ventures, Atempo Growth, Big Idea Ventures, CDP Venture Capital, Doorway, Eureka! Venture, FARO Value, Founders Factory, Grey Silo Ventures, Growth Capital, HayStack Ventures, Italian Founders Fund (IFF), Kairos Partners Sgr, Liquid Ventures, Lumen Ventures, MiTO Tech Ventures, Neva SGR, Nextalia Ventures, Obloo Ventures, P101, Plug and Play Tech Center, PranaVentures, Primo Capital, Rancilio Cube, Sella Direct Ventures, Sony Innovation Fund, The TechShop SGR, UCP (Ulixes Capital Partners), United Ventures, IAG, VC Partners SGR

 

💼 Corporates

Almaviva, Azimut Libera Impresa, BNL BNP Paribas, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., CNH Industrial, Dallara, Datalogic, Ducati, Fastweb + Vodafone, Ferrari, Generali, Globant, Granarolo, Gruppo Hera, Gruppo Iren, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Humanitas, Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking, JAKALA, J.P. Morgan, Klarna, Lactalis/Parmalat, Lamborghini, Leonardo, Lutech, Menarini Silicon Biosystems, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mondadori, PwC, SAP, Scaleway, Tata Communications, UniCredit, Unipol, Unipol Assicurazioni, UnipolSai, WIIT, Zanichelli, Zucchetti

 

🚀 Start-ups/Scale-ups

Alba Robot, Arsenale Bioyards, Axelera AI, Axyon AI, BeDimensional S.p.A., BionIT Labs, BKN301, BrandOn Group, Caracol AM, Cubbit, Datapizza, Daze, eAgronom, Exein, Fiscozen, Generative Bionics, HBI, helmon, Hlpy, Kampaay, Lexroom, Musixmatch, Neuronova, NextGen Robotics, Niulinx, Phononic Vibes, Qomodo, Renaissance Fusion, Shop Circle, Sibill, SiPearl, Smartness, SoulK, Spoki, SynergyFlow, Talentware, TreTao, Tulum Energy, Up2You, Viceversa, xFarm, Young Platform

 

🎤 Speakers

Ekaterina Zaharieva (European Commissioner for Start-ups, Research and Innovation), Francesca Bria (President, ART-ER), Matteo Lepore (Mayor, Municipality and Metropolitan City of Bologna), Michele de Pascale (President, Emilia-Romagna Region), Alec Ross (technology policy expert, entrepreneur, and distinguished professor), Saul Klein (Founder, LocalGlobe & Phoenix Court), Emanuele Levi (CEO, CDP Venture Capital), Briehan Burke (General Partner, Keen Venture Partners), Francesco Ubertini (President, CINECA), Fabrizio Del Maffeo (CEO and co-founder, Axelera AI), Claudio Domenicali (CEO, Ducati), Frédéric Pascal (Managing Director of Global Private Markets, SAP), Gerardo Gagliardo (Co-founder, Exein), Patrick Sheehan (Managing Partner and Founder, ETF Partners), Sebastiano Toffaletti (CEO, European DIGITAL SME Alliance), Xixi Richter (Executive Director, BlackRock), Martina Domenicali (Co-founder, Lexroom), and many others.

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Event partners

ART-ER - Attractiveness Research Territory is the Emilia-Romagna Joint Stock Consortium born with the purpose of fostering the region’s sustainable growth by developing innovation and knowledge, attractiveness and internationalisation of the territory. Its activities are aimed at strengthening the regional innovation ecosystem and relationships among its components, promoting the internationalisation of the business and research system to foster sustainable growth in the regions, increasing research and innovation capabilities and productivity, and successfully integrating into global value chains and new markets. www.art-er.it

METROPOLITAN CITY AND MUNICIPALITY OF BOLOGNA - The Bologna area is a strategic hub for regional and national economic development and innovation, bringing together business, research and supercomputing infrastructure, technology transfer, and networks in a single territory.

Bologna Metropolitana, as part of its strategic programme "City of Knowledge", promotes policies to support economic development and territorial attractiveness, strengthen innovation, and stimulate synergy and collaboration among all players in the ecosystem. This integrated system comprises a range of instruments and services, including BIS — Bologna Innovation Square, Land in Bo, CTE 2.0 — House of Emerging Technologies (CTE COBO), and initiatives to enhance territorial attractiveness and retain high-specialisation talent.

CTE COBO - House of Emerging Technologies of the Municipality and Metropolitan City of Bologna - is an innovation and technology transfer ecosystem where public administrations, research institutions, and businesses collaborate to develop solutions with a meaningful impact on the local territory. Benefiting from the highest funding in Italy from the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy (MiMiT) as part of the House of Emerging Technologies (CTE), between 2023 and 2025 CTE COBO engaged 16 partners, supported 86 companies and start-ups, and allocated more than €1.4 million to businesses and €2 million to open innovation. Over the next three years, it aims to attract additional resources and capitalise on the more than 100 technological assets developed so far. https://en.ctecobo.it/

BI-REX - BI-REX is the national Competence Center specialized in Big Data and enabling technologies for Industry 5.0.

It is a Public-Private Partnership with 66 partners, including universities, research centers, and leading companies, supporting businesses in their innovation and digital transformation journeys. It offers training, consultancy, test-before-invest initiatives, and co-development of technology transfer projects.

At the core of its offering is the Pilot Plant: an interconnected digital factory available to companies, where Industry 5.0 technologies and traditional processes are integrated for experimentation, demonstration, and prototyping in real-world conditions.

IT4LIA AI Factory - IT4LIA AI Factory is the strategic initiative designed to transform the national and European Artificial Intelligence landscape through an advanced infrastructure and a comprehensive portfolio of services available to researchers, public administrations, businesses and startups.

At the heart of the Italian AI Factory lies one of the most powerful and integrated HPC infrastructures in Europe, hosted at DAMA Tecnopolo (Data Manifattura Regione Emilia-Romagna), a European hub of reference for supercomputing, big data, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

IT4LIA AI Factory benefits from equal contributions from the European Commission and the Italian Government. The initiative is promoted by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) together with the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN)

For further information https://it4lia-aifactory.eu/

SAP - As a global leader in enterprise applications and business AI, SAP (NYSE:SAP) stands at the nexus of business and technology. For over 50 years, organizations have trusted SAP  to bring out their best by uniting business-critical operations spanning finance, procurement, HR, supply chain, and customer experience. For more information, visit www.sap.com.

FNDX - FNDX (fndx.vc) is a company specialized in M&A and Fundraising Advisory and Alternative Asset Advisory for investments in private markets.

The M&A and Fundraising Advisory team supports high-potential entrepreneurs and founders by providing M&A advisory services and fundraising support throughout all stages of their growth journey, from initial capital raising to managing exit operations.

The Alternative Asset Advisory team assists Venture Capital and Private Equity funds in identifying the best investment opportunities, leveraging its deep sector expertise and strong entrepreneurial background to optimize investment strategies and maximize the value of portfolio companies.

G-FACTOR - G-Factor, the incubator-accelerator for young businesses created in 2018 by Fondazione Golinelli, is an ecosystem that transforms the high innovation and technology potential of young people and scientists into entrepreneurial realities capable of succeeding in the market with replicable and scalable models. It addresses the growing need to foster integration between research, industry, and the market, placing young people, their business ideas, scientific research, and their ability to produce innovation and new technologies at the centre.

In 2021, Fondazione Golinelli launched the I-Tech Innovation acceleration programme for young innovative businesses in partnership with CRIF, delivered by G-Factor. The 2025–2026 edition, developed in collaboration with BI-REX Competence Centre, Emil Banca, AgroFood BIC, and Aeroporto Guglielmo Marconi di Bologna, and with the institutional support of Città Metropolitana, Comune di Bologna, Comune di Imola and ART-ER, selected 11 companies from over 160 applications across six verticals: EdTech in Life Science, AI & Data in Finance & Green Economy, AgriTech & FoodTech, Industry 4.0, Social Impact, and TravelTech & Smart Mobility.

ALMACUBE - Almacube is the innovation hub of the University of Bologna, Confindustria Emilia Area Centro, and Fondazione Golinelli. Since 1999, it has supported innovation and economic development in the region, acting as a bridge between academic research and industry. Initially created to enhance university spin-offs, Almacube has expanded its scope, now operating through two business units:

• Open Innovation Unit, guiding established companies through their innovation processes

• Startup & Spin-off Unit, supporting startup and spin-off growth through effective business and go-to-market strategies

With a strategic and collaborative approach, Almacube serves a diverse audience including startups, SMEs, corporates, and innovators. It actively involves students, young professionals, researchers, and professors in programmes based on advanced methodologies such as Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Human-Centred Innovation.

With Almacube, the potential of academic research meets market needs, generating innovative and sustainable solutions for the future.

GIANNI & ORIGONI - Gianni & Origoni is an international, independent law firm and a leader in consultancy and assistance across all areas of business law.

Founded in 1988, the firm now has over 490 highly specialised lawyers based in Italy (Rome, Milan, Bologna, Padua, and Turin) and abroad (Abu Dhabi, Brussels, Hong Kong, London, New York, and Shanghai). Recognised nationally and internationally for its achievements in Italy and other jurisdictions, the firm has received prestigious awards and ranks among the top law firms in the field.

As a full-service firm, one of its core strengths is mergers and acquisitions (M&A). Gianni & Origoni plays a key role in many of the most prominent M&A transactions in Italy and is ranked among the top firms in the sector. To meet growing client demand for legal expertise in innovation and technology transfer, the firm expanded its services in 2016 by launching GOP4Venture – a specialised team dedicated to venture capital and investments in startups and innovative companies. Its mission is to meet the needs of venture capital funds, investment firms and investors, founders, innovative SMEs, as well as accelerators, incubators, and spin-offs from research centres.

MUG – Magazzini Generativi is the innovation hub of Emil Banca, part of the BCC Iccrea Group. Located in Bologna at Via Emilia Levante 9, MUG is a place designed to foster the creation of new businesses and build a community of innovators.

MUG is a home for startups, third-sector organizations, talents, and companies, offering an ideal habitat for the development of ideas. The project promotes cross-pollination between innovation, entrepreneurship, and culture through open innovation initiatives and events that actively engage the local community alongside a network of institutional and private partners and stakeholders.

MUG, powered by Emil Banca, participates in and supports incubation and acceleration programs exclusively through partnerships: through its onboarding activities, it facilitates the connection between the bank and startups. Emil Banca provides debt instruments and makes small scale investments in startups.

Qonto — Qonto is Europe's leading finance management solution serving over 600,000 SMEs and freelancers across 8 countries. Launched in 2017 by Alexandre Prot and Steve Anavi, Qonto combines business banking with powerful financial tools including invoicing, bookkeeping, and spend management - all in one seamless solution. Backed by €600+ million in funding and powered by a team of 1,600+ people, Qonto is transforming how European businesses manage their finances with innovative products, transparent pricing, and 24/7 customer support.

CUBBIT - Cubbit is the first geo-distributed cloud storage enabler, developing sovereign solutions to protect the data of companies and institutions across Europe and worldwide. Its groundbreaking software-defined object storage enables service providers, enterprises, and public entities to create their own cloud storage system in minutes, adaptable to each organisation’s infrastructure strategy. This ensures full control and sovereignty over data, simplifies management workflows, and optimises costs. Today, Cubbit’s hyper-resilient and cybersecure technology is adopted by 400+ companies and partners, including Leonardo (world leader in defence and cybersecurity) and Rai Way (part of the RAI group, active in the media and data centre sectors). For more information, visit: https://www.cubbit.io