Kyma Investment Partners, Andrea Rangone and Stefano Mainetti launch the investment vehicle KITT

Kyma Investment Partners sgr, a private equity operator dedicated to digital transformation, Andrea Rangone (president and co-founder of Digital 360 and professor of Digital Business at Politecnico di Milano) and Stefano Mainetti (founder of the companies Webscience and doDigital as well as executive advisor to the incubator PoliHub) have launched KITT.

This is an investment vehicle to support the best Italian entrepreneurs and managers operating in the software and information and communication technology (ICT) industry in a project of aggregation of technologies in specific areas and/or sectors in order to obtain an integrated leader with the necessary scale to grow and compete internationally. The initiative is part of the current trend of growth and consolidation of the ICT market.

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KITT will be one of the investment vehicles of Kyma’s first fund

Kyma is an independent sgr founded last November 2020 by Luciano Hassan (former private equity manager of Intesa San Paolo, and senior advisor for Alpha Private Equity), Gianluca Losi (former partner of TEC, Mediobanca’s club deal and before that director of Alpha Private Equity), Michele Fontana Sabatini (former director of Pillarstone and Bregal Capital) and Carlo Privitera (with a past in Investindustrial in New York, where he was operating partner and responsible for the digitalization of portfolio companies, and in Luxottica). 

Kyma invests in growth buy-outs, acquiring the majority of the capital of high-potential Italian SMEs with solid and scalable business models. The first fund launched by Kyma has a fundraising target of $158 million (€130 million). Currently, Kyma is in advanced discussions with Fondo Italiano d’Investimento sgr (FII sgr) for the role of anchor investor. Other investors will be banks, foundations, insurance companies, and family offices.

KITT will be one of the investment vehicles of Kyma’s first fund. To date, Kyma has already identified a number of companies among the best in the industry with which to start aggregation projects. At the time of the first investment, the KITT vehicle will be set up, with resources expected to reach up to $30 million (€25 million) provided directly by Kyma and its investors, to which it will give the possibility of direct co-investment. The capital will be used both to acquire company shares and in capital increases to finance development projects and accelerated growth. The KITT platform will be able to count on a unique mix of competences, integrating the solid private equity experience and the excellent track record of value creation of Kyma’s team, with the deep knowledge of the various technologies by Andrea Rangone and Stefano Mainetti, built through more than twenty years of experience in the ICT world, assisting innovation entrepreneurs to pursue product development and commercial growth strategies.

“The Italian ICT world is now worth more than $48.6 billion (€40 billion) and we consider it definitely interesting for market dynamics and growth rates. The KITT platform will represent one of the investment verticals of the Kyma fund, which thus confirms its strategy of helping the country in the process of innovation and technological transformation, helping SMEs, which today lack scale, to aggregate in order to grow faster and compete in international markets,” commented Luciano Hassan, president of Kyma Investment Partners sgr.

Carlo Privitera, Digital & Operating Partner of Kyma Investment Partners sgr said: “Through a well-defined buy & build strategy, we will select the best Italian companies in the ICT sector and support them in a path of accelerated growth that will be the result of greater financial resources, better go-to-market capability, development of excellent management and managerial skills, and access to a vast network of national and international talents, functional to further develop and improve the services offered. In the selection of targets, we will also pay particular attention to those innovative technologies and solutions that support small and medium-sized enterprises in their journey towards a more sustainable and responsible business”.

Andrea Rangone and Stefano Mainetti added: “We are convinced that the Italian ICT sector is characterized by entrepreneurs who, properly supported with adequate capital, can accelerate both internal (organic) and external (m&a) growth paths. It is important to know how to identify them and support them in the path of all-round growth. For this reason, KITT is based on a multidisciplinary combination in which we integrate our knowledge of the ICT sector, both in terms of technology and business models, with Kyma’s proven expertise in private equity and value creation.”

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(Featured image by Edar via Pixabay)

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First published in Be Beez, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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