Italy-based venture capital firm United Ventures has formed a growth fund with telecommunications firm Telecom Italia (TIM) with a targeted close of €150m ($175m).
TIM is providing approximately $70m in capital for UV T-Growth through corporate venturing unit TIM Ventures. The fund will invest in late-stage domestic and international developers of innovative technology, especially in areas associated with 5G mobile infrastructure.
Sectors the vehicle will target include cloud services, edge computing, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, mobile payment, and virtual and augmented reality technology.
UV T-Growth will be managed by United Ventures and is seeking capital from additional limited partners. Portfolio companies will also get the chance to leverage TIM’s resources as they look to grow.
TIM’s chief financial officer, Giovanni Ronca, said: “With the launch of UV T-Growth we are committed to promoting the growth of 5G in Italy, which will be the enabling technology of the next few years for citizens and businesses.
“In addition, we are focusing on a broad range of investment verticals linked to digital. We believe that venture capital is the right tool to accelerate innovation. We are convinced that with this initiative we will encourage greater competitiveness, boosting new investments and confirming our support for digital development in Italy.”
