OPES Italia is an impact venture capital platform and one of the first players in Italy to integrate a structured gender-lens approach across the full investment lifecycle.
We invest in early-stage companies tackling relevant social challenges with a solution that has market traction and is scalable, with the objective of delivering measurable impact alongside financial returns.
The fund invests in early stage start-ups with the explicit goal of tackling systemic challenges such as polarization in access to services, digital divide, youth unemployment, marginalization of vulnerable groups and educational poverty.
We deploy capital with a sector-agnostic approach, considering technology as an enabler, and focus on impact enterprises that reduce the “frictions” that drive exclusion, acting across three complementary levers:
– Capability: enabling skills development and employability
– Access: improving access to essential services and infrastructure
– Agency: strengthening autonomy, dignity, safety and capacity to choose
Our contribution goes beyond capital: we support portfolio companies with targeted operational input and leverage the OPES ecosystem to mobilize complementary resources and accelerate execution. Where appropriate, we also support companies in accessing complementary financial resources across the impact investing continuum. We further facilitate strategic partnerships and strengthen execution capacity by providing expertise, networks and managerial support (“non-financial capital”) aligned with each company’s stage of growth.
