Top 10 Tech Startups in Italy to Watch in 2026

Italy’s technology startup ecosystem is gaining momentum as a new generation of companies tackles opportunities across artificial intelligence, robotics, fintech, healthcare, enterprise software, climate technology and digital services. In 2025, startups in Italy raised approximately €2.5 billion across 166 funding rounds, with software emerging as the country’s most active sector by capital raised. Among the largest deals were Generative Bionics’ €70 million round, Jet HR’s €25 million financing and Lexroom’s €16 million Series A.

What is particularly notable about Italy’s current startup landscape is its increasing diversity. Entrepreneurs are applying AI to legal research, B2B commerce, HR and physical automation while deep-tech companies are developing humanoid robots and carbon-removal technologies. 

At the same time, startups such as Qomodo, Subbyx and BRUM are attempting to modernize established consumer and business models. The ten companies featured below are not ranked by performance or valuation. Instead, they represent a cross-section of Italian startups whose technology, business models, funding momentum or market opportunities make them particularly interesting to watch in 2026.

10 Italian Tech Startups to Watch in 2026

1. Generative Bionics

Generative Bionics is a Genoa-based deep-tech company developing intelligent humanoid robots designed to work alongside people in real-world industrial environments. The startup emerged from research at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), where its technology builds on years of work in humanoid robotics, including the institute’s iCub and ergoCub platforms. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Daniele Pucci, an IIT researcher who has worked extensively on humanoid robotics and human-robot interaction.

Generative Bionics officially launched in December 2025 with one of the most significant funding rounds for European humanoid robotics, raising €70 million. The round was led by CDP Venture Capital’s Artificial Intelligence Fund, with participation from AMD Ventures, Duferco, Eni Next, RoboIT and Tether. The company’s objective is to bring a new generation of “Made in Italy” humanoid robots to market, combining advanced artificial intelligence with mechanical design and an emphasis on safe interaction with humans. Its robots are intended for repetitive, hazardous or physically demanding tasks across industries including manufacturing, logistics, healthcare and retail.

The funding gives Generative Bionics substantial resources to move from research and development toward industrial deployment and commercialization. Its backing is also notable because the investor group combines venture capital, semiconductor expertise, industrial companies, energy and technology-transfer capabilities. With humanoid robotics becoming one of the most competitive areas of physical AI, Generative Bionics is emerging as an ambitious Italian contender seeking to translate decades of academic robotics research into commercially useful machines.

2. Lexroom

Lexroom is a Milan-based legal technology startup building AI infrastructure for lawyers and corporate legal teams. Founded by Paolo Fois, Martina Domenicali and Andrea Lonza, the company is developing a legal AI platform designed around the specific requirements of European civil-law systems, where reliable access to legislation, case law and legal documents is critical. Rather than positioning itself simply as another interface built on top of a general-purpose large language model, Lexroom’s thesis is that effective legal AI depends heavily on high-quality, continuously updated legal data.

The company was founded with the ambition of bringing AI into everyday legal work, helping professionals research, analyze and work with complex legal information more efficiently. Its investor base includes Base10 Partners, Acurio Ventures, Entourage and Verve Ventures, among others. Lexroom has experienced rapid funding momentum. In September 2025 it raised a $19 million Series A, and only eight months later, in May 2026, it announced a $50 million Series B led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from Base10 Partners, Eurazeo, Acurio Ventures, Entourage and View Different.

The latest round brought total capital raised to more than $73 million and came as Lexroom reported more than 8,000 law firms and corporate legal teams using its platform. The company plans to use the new capital to expand into additional European civil-law markets.

With European legal systems requiring localized expertise and data, Lexroom is pursuing a market where generic AI models alone may not be sufficient. Its combination of proprietary legal data, AI and a rapidly expanding European footprint makes it one of Italy’s most closely watched legal-tech startups in 2026.

3. Jet HR

Jet HR is a Milan-based HR technology company building an all-in-one platform for hiring, payroll and employee management. Founded in late 2022 by Marco Ogliengo and Francesco Scalambrino, the company was created around a straightforward problem: Italian businesses, particularly small and medium-sized companies, spend significant time navigating complex employment administration and regulatory requirements.

Jet HR combines software automation with support from dedicated labour consultants, allowing businesses to manage processes such as payroll, employment contracts, attendance, leave and other HR administration through a single platform. The company has expanded rapidly and now says it serves more than 1,500 customers, works with over 30 labour-consultant partners and processes more than 20,000 payslips per month. Its funding trajectory has been equally notable.

After earlier financing rounds, Jet HR raised €25 million in June 2025 in a round led by U.S. venture capital firm Base10 Partners, which marked Base10’s first investment in Italy. Existing investors including Exor Ventures, Picus Capital, Italian Founders Fund and 2100 Ventures also participated. The round brought Jet HR’s total capital raised to approximately €41.7 million.

The company said the financing would support product development, hiring and the addition of new modules across HR, finance and compliance. Its broader ambition is to become an operating system for employee management within Italian businesses. As vertical SaaS becomes increasingly attractive in markets with complex local regulations, Jet HR provides an example of an Italian startup using technology to modernize a traditionally fragmented administrative category.

4. Qomodo

Qomodo is a Milan-based fintech company focused on modernizing payments and financing for physical merchants. Founded in 2023 by Gianluca Cocco and Gaetano De Maio, Qomodo initially emerged with the goal of bringing digital payment and Buy Now, Pay Later capabilities to offline businesses, where consumers and merchants have historically had fewer flexible financing options than in ecommerce.

Its platform allows physical merchants to offer customers flexible payment options while also providing tools designed to improve cash flow and simplify transactions. The company attracted significant attention when it emerged from stealth with a €34.5 million pre-seed financing package in 2023, combining equity and debt and backed by investors including Fasanara Capital, Exor Ventures, Ithaca Investment, Lumen Ventures, Proximity Capital, The Techshop, Primo Ventures, Notion Capital and Octopus Ventures.

Qomodo subsequently raised €13.5 million in a Series A in January 2025, co-led by RTP Global and LMDV Capital, with participation from Proximity Capital, Primo Capital and several prominent technology entrepreneurs and investors. The transaction brought total funding to approximately €48 million, comprising €18 million in equity and €30 million in financing. Qomodo has also expanded beyond its initial BNPL proposition, introducing SmartPOS technology and other payment services for merchants.

By early 2025, the company said it was serving around 2,500 physical merchants, predominantly in Italy. Its focus on the offline economy gives Qomodo a distinctive position in European fintech, particularly as small businesses look for ways to offer customers more flexible payment options without taking on the complexity traditionally associated with consumer financing.

5. Cyberwave

Cyberwave is a Milan-based physical AI startup building infrastructure that connects artificial intelligence with robots, sensors and industrial machines. Founded in 2025 by serial entrepreneurs Simone Di Somma, previously associated with Askdata, and Vittorio Banfi, founder of Botsociety, the company is focused on a problem that is becoming increasingly important as AI moves beyond screens and into the physical world: making different machines and robotic systems easier for developers to program, simulate and control.

Cyberwave’s platform provides a common software layer designed to abstract away much of the complexity of hardware integration. Its approach includes digital twins, simulation-to-real workflows, a single API and orchestration tools that allow developers to work with different robots and machines without building bespoke integrations for every device. The company raised €7 million in October 2025 in a funding round led by United Ventures, with participation from The Techshop SGR, Vento, Pi Campus and experienced operators from the AI and manufacturing ecosystem. Cyberwave said the financing would help scale its developer ecosystem and accelerate applications across manufacturing, logistics and industrial inspection. 

Its corporate timeline shows that Cyberwave was incorporated in July 2025 and moved toward commercial launch during 2026, following a public hackathon, a Builders Program and an expanded beta program. The significance of Cyberwave lies in its attempt to create a software infrastructure layer for physical automation. As companies deploy increasingly heterogeneous fleets of robots and AI-enabled machines, the ability to simulate, orchestrate and program those systems through common infrastructure could become a critical part of the physical AI stack.

6. Volta Software

Volta Software is a technology company founded in 2024 by Paul Guillemin and Mario Parteli to modernize B2B commerce through artificial intelligence and automation. The company focuses on distributors, wholesalers and brands that often manage catalogs, pricing, orders and customer interactions through fragmented systems and highly manual workflows. Volta’s platform brings these processes together and uses AI to automate activities such as order capture from emails, PDFs and WhatsApp, catalog management, pricing, quoting and sales recommendations.

The company says its platform can automate up to 90% of manual work, generate an average 11% sales lift and save more than seven hours per person each week. Volta initially raised a €6 million pre-seed round led by Emblem and backed by around 40 investors across several countries, including Founders Future, Robin Capital and a number of technology entrepreneurs and business angels. In 2025, the company announced a further €5 million extension led by RTP Global, bringing total funding to €11 million.

Existing investors Emblem, Robin Capital and Founders Future also participated, while former Cegid and Sage CEO Pascal Houillon joined as an investor and strategic adviser. Volta’s platform is already being used by distributors in France and Italy, and the company has been building its presence across both markets. Its ambition is to create a European AI champion for B2B commerce by addressing an enormous but comparatively under-digitized segment of the economy. With AI increasingly moving into operational workflows rather than remaining a productivity layer, Volta is positioning itself around the transformation of how businesses buy, sell and manage commercial relationships.

7. Subbyx

Subbyx is an Italian technology company building infrastructure for the subscription economy and helping businesses move from traditional ownership models toward flexible access-based services. Founded in 2024 by Filippo Rocca, who serves as CEO and founder, Subbyx is particularly focused on technology products and devices that can be offered through recurring subscription models. Its platform, Subbyx Builder, is designed to allow merchants and enterprises to convert conventional product sales into subscription businesses while managing the lifecycle of those subscriptions.

The broader proposition is based on the idea that businesses can generate recurring revenue while consumers gain access to products without necessarily having to purchase them outright. Subbyx has attracted considerable investor interest for a company founded only in 2024. In January 2025, it raised €15 million in seed financing, and in March 2026 it announced a €30 million Series A led by Systemiq Capital, with existing investor Azimut participating and Flashpoint providing venture debt to support the expansion of its device portfolio. The latest financing brought total funding to €50 million across equity and debt. The company is using the capital to expand internationally, with Sweden selected as its first market outside Italy

 Its model also connects with broader trends around circularity and product reuse because subscription models can encourage businesses to retain ownership and extend the useful life of products. As companies increasingly experiment with recurring revenue and consumers become more comfortable accessing products rather than owning them outright, Subbyx is attempting to build the infrastructure behind that transition.

8. BRUM

BRUM is an Italian education and mobility startup focused on modernizing the driving-school and driver’s-license process. Founded by Luca Cozzarini together with Paolo De Nadai and Roberto Marazzini, BRUM was created around the idea of bringing an industry that has traditionally operated through physical classrooms, paperwork and fragmented processes into a more digital and accessible format.

The company aims to simplify the entire journey toward obtaining a driving licence, combining digital theory learning with practical driving instruction and a technology-enabled operating model for driving schools. BRUM has attracted funding as it works to expand its model nationally.

In January 2026, the company announced a €5 million funding round led by Italian Founders Fund, following a €3.5 million round in March 2025 and an earlier €600,000 raise. The latest financing brought total capital raised to more than €9 million and is being used to accelerate national expansion. A significant portion of the new investment is earmarked for acquiring vehicles equipped with dashcams and AI systems designed to support driver training, analyze lessons and complement instructors’ work. BRUM’s proposition is notable because it applies technology to a highly traditional and locally fragmented industry rather than targeting an inherently digital market.

The company has also positioned itself within Italy’s broader startup ecosystem, becoming one of the finalists for Startup of the Year and setting an ambitious goal of becoming the country’s largest driving school. Its progress in 2026 will show whether a technology-first approach can successfully transform an established consumer service at national scale.

9. Holifya

Holifya is an Italian digital-health startup developing an AI-enabled approach to obesity and metabolic-syndrome care. Founded in 2023 by Alessandra Cestaro, a former McKinsey consultant, Holifya describes itself as Italy’s first digital clinic focused specifically on the pharmacological treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome. Its model combines digital healthcare, artificial intelligence and advanced diagnostics to create a more personalized pathway for patients receiving treatment.

The company is operating at the intersection of several rapidly evolving areas, including obesity medicine, digital therapeutics, remote healthcare and the growing use of new-generation anti-obesity medications. Holifya reached an important financing milestone on September 1, 2026, when it announced the closing of a €2 million investment round led by Next Age, part of CDP Venture Capital’s National Accelerator Network. The financing consists of €1.6 million in equity and €400,000 through debt and grants. Holifya said the new capital would support team expansion, technological development and the growth of B2B partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, clinics and insurers.

The company’s focus is particularly timely as obesity becomes an increasingly important healthcare challenge and new pharmacological treatments reshape the market. Rather than simply providing another wellness app, Holifya is attempting to build a clinical model around medical treatment and ongoing patient management. Its progress in combining healthcare professionals, diagnostics, AI and pharmaceutical therapies could make it an important company to watch as Italy’s digital-health sector develops and healthcare providers explore more scalable models for managing chronic conditions.

10. Limenet

Limenet is an Italian climate-tech startup developing carbon-dioxide-removal and industrial decarbonization technologies. Established in March 2023 as a Benefit Corporation, the company was founded by Stefano Cappello, Giovanni Cappello and Enrico Noseda and is focused on transforming carbon dioxide into calcium bicarbonate, creating a pathway for long-term CO₂ removal through ocean alkalinity enhancement.

Its approach starts with the production of decarbonized lime, which can then be used in a chemical process that converts captured CO₂ into bicarbonates that are naturally present in seawater.

Limenet has attracted growing interest from both climate investors and industrial partners. In December 2025, CDP Venture Capital and Fassa Bortolo invested €7 million in the company through the Green Transition Fund and Accelerator Fund, alongside Fassa Bortolo Industria. The transaction brought Limenet’s total equity raised to €9.5 million and strengthened its connection with the Italian industrial sector. In 2026, Limenet also entered into a €5 million joint-development agreement with Fassa Bortolo to co-develop a next-generation electric kiln for producing high-performance, low-CO₂ lime.

The commitment is split equally between the two companies and gives Limenet an opportunity to test its technology within an operational industrial environment.

The company’s significance extends beyond carbon removal itself because hard-to-abate industrial sectors require solutions that combine emissions reduction with scalable manufacturing processes. By connecting carbon-removal technology with the established lime industry, Limenet is attempting to build a commercially relevant pathway for industrial decarbonization while contributing to the development of an Italian carbon-removal supply chain.

Italy’s Startup Ecosystem Is Entering a New Phase

The ten startups featured here illustrate how much broader Italy’s technology landscape has become. AI and software are playing increasingly important roles, but the country’s emerging companies are also tackling humanoid robotics, physical automation, fintech, healthcare, mobility, subscriptions and carbon removal. The funding environment reflects that evolution: Italian startups raised approximately €2.5 billion across 166 rounds in 2025, with software leading by sector and several deep-tech and technology companies securing significant investments.

What stands out is the variety of problems being addressed. Some startups are digitizing traditional Italian industries, while others are building technologies aimed at global markets from the outset. Generative Bionics, Cyberwave and Limenet demonstrate the country’s deep-tech ambitions, while Lexroom, Jet HR and Volta show how Italian-founded companies can build sophisticated software businesses around highly specialized markets.

Qomodo, Subbyx, BRUM and Holifya meanwhile reflect a broader willingness to rethink established consumer and service models. If this combination of research, entrepreneurship, venture capital and industrial expertise continues to strengthen, 2026 could prove to be another important year for Italy’s technology ecosystem.