Growth Engine
Also known as Growth Engine S.r.l.
Milan sector-agnostic venture capital holding company (Growth Engine S.r.l.) investing from pre-seed to pre-Series A; deal flow comes from the Growth Capital advisory firm and the A-Road programme.
- HEADQUARTERS
- Milan, Italy
- FOUNDED
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- AUM
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- OUTSIDE CAPITAL
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- TEAM LISTED
- 3 people
Focus
- STAGES
- Pre-SeedSeed
- SECTORS
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- ASSET MIX
- Venture capital
- GEOGRAPHY
- Italy
Overview
Growth Engine S.r.l. is a Milan-based venture capital holding company that describes itself as sector-agnostic and investing from pre-seed to pre-Series A. Its deal flow comes from Growth Capital, a tech investment bank with offices in Milan, Madrid and London, and from A-Road, an acceleration programme for scaleups heading to Series A. Its investment committee is made up of Michele Appendino, Marco Ariello and Fabio Mondini de Focatiis. In March 2026 it announced an investment in CiaoDott’s €1.5M pre-seed round, and in October 2025 it reported the sale of portfolio company Keyless to Ping Identity.
Investment thesis
Sector-agnostic, thesis-driven early-stage investing from pre-seed to pre-Series A, centred on founders; portfolio spans early-stage to growth companies for diversification across sectors and stages.
PORTFOLIO (6)
- KeylessNOTABLEAcquired by Ping Identity (2025)
- CiaoDottHealthTech · since 2026
- HolifyaHealthTech
- Cosmico
- Elai
- Guidoio
People
Links
Frequently asked questions
Growth Engine is a VC fund based in Milan, Italy.
Yes. Growth Engine invests its own capital in private companies.
Growth Engine invests at Pre-Seed and Seed stages.
Key people at Growth Engine include Michele Appendino (Investment Committee member), Marco Ariello (Investment Committee member) and Fabio Mondini de Focatiis (Investment Committee member).
Growth Engine's investments include Keyless, CiaoDott, Holifya, Cosmico, Elai and Guidoio.
The most recent publicly reported investment by Growth Engine is CiaoDott (€1.5M pre-seed), announced in Mar 2026.
Growth Engine states that it accepts submissions through its official contact page.