«We are an excellence in the world of start-ups. And so the brains remain”

ANCONA The pioneer who, from nothing, projected a piece of Marche into the future. Mario Pesaresi, with his creatures AC75 and ECapital, has created fertile ground for the proliferation of start-ups in our region «and now in the Italian scenario we are an excellence», claims the president of Fondazione Marche of the objectives achieved. And he rewinds the tape to reconstruct the stages of success: «ECapital, the first start-up competition in Italy, was borrowed from MIT in Boston. Almost half of the start-ups in the Marche were born because first Marche ECapital, then Fondazione Marche financed the best ideas, giving up to 20 thousand euros.”

The steps

So far, the first steps. Then you have to be able to transform the idea into a business. «In the Marche Foundation portfolio we have developed start-ups that are national and international excellence. One of these is Civitanavi, created with 40% of the capital subscribed by us. And today an international group like Honeywell is coming to acquire it.” The secret? Investing in people and technologies. For this reason, «three years ago we started an accelerator with Univpm and CariVerona, a specialized structure that invests in start-ups by combining a financial component and management support to go onto the market».

The results

Because without this second piece, survival is not at all a given. «In the Marche the mortality rate of start-ups is not very high, and being able to promote successful initiatives is important for the economic fabric and for the employment of young people, so as to retain brains». To give substance to the future, capital is needed, and it is not always within the reach of new realities. But Pesaresi sets a goal: «If the ideas are good, the team is valid and the product is interesting on the market, there will be no capital problems. Investors are constantly looking for good ideas.” And the president of the Marche Foundation has already done so. The AC75 accelerator focused on the Silver economy for two years, selecting 400 start-ups of which 16 obtained funding. «This year we will select 10 out of 420 (of which 220 are foreign). Three of the foreigners we selected last year have settled in Ancona: one American, one Irish and one Spanish.”

The route

However, it is forbidden to rest on our laurels and Pesaresi outlines the course for the next steps: «We will launch a program on spin-offs. Our universities are excellent and from there we must bring out the best ideas with the From lab to market program. We must be able to understand what talents are and put petrol in the engines that work.” The future is here and it starts now.