Barbara Avalle is a leading investment and innovation professional with extensive and diverse experience in public markets and real asset investment strategies. After starting her career as Fixed Income Sales and Trader and Portfolio Manager, she held leadership roles as Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Doorway and Managing Partner at Link Capital. She is founder of venti35capital, a Venture Capital fund that will invest in startups co-founded by women with the goal of supporting gender equality, and co-founder of TechChill Milano, an initiative created to promote the Italian Venture Capital ecosystem in the international arena. As an Angel Investor with Italian Angels for Growth and Angels4Women, Barbara supports the growth of innovative startups. In addition, she was Vice President of ItaliaFintech and has collaborated on major initiatives in the FinTech and Venture Capital world.
Your career path is extremely diverse, from managing traditional investment portfolios to venture capital. How did you decide to go the startup investment route and become a business angel?
I love challenges and I am curious. These two directions have always characterized my choices not only professionally. My transition to venture capital and angel investing was driven by a desire to have a more direct impact on value creation. After working for many years managing investment portfolios on listed markets and supporting numerous SMEs in their search for capital in the market, I realized that I could make a greater contribution by directly supporting the ecosystem of innovative startups. In venture capital, I saw an opportunity to connect my experience in financial management with the need to create tangible change.
What are the main criteria you use to evaluate a startup as a promising investment opportunity?
I evaluate startups based on a combination of factors now well established by most VC investors. The assessment always starts with the team. I look for founders who have a clear vision, proven resilience and the ability to execute with discipline. They must be capable, resilient, and passionate. Their level of commitment and ability to adapt to challenges is often crucial. In this regard, I never forget the teaching of one of the first founders I met, Marco Trombetti of Traslated and PI Campus. Winning founders in his view either have autistic-like traits, which allows them to be totally and maniacally dedicated to the startup they founded, or they are naïve i.e. totally and deeply optimistic. When I evaluate a team, I look for the combination of the two elements: total dedication and optimism and confidence in their abilities, as well as ca va sans dire skills. Essential for building, growing and overcoming difficult moments that are inevitable in a growth path.
Market size is the second element: I am interested in the fact that they operate in sectors with significant and growing TAM. Essential that there is the ability to scale globally. Finally, innovation in the business model is key: a startup must not only solve a problem but do so with a competitive advantage that is difficult to replicate. Founders must be able to maintain the advantage even in competitive environments or with the entry of new players.
As an angel investor for Italian Angels for Growth, what are some examples of startups that have particularly impressed you with their impact or innovation?
I should mention many that in terms of product or business model innovation and impact have impressed me over the years. I will limit myself to a few significant examples.
Fleep Technology, a spin-off of the Italian Institute of Technology that focuses on the development of basic electronics printed on transparent, flexible and recyclable plastic. Fleep solves the problem of silicon's limitations by developing applications where traditional silicon cannot be used. The solution is complementary to silicon, but with significantly lower costs, allowing broadening accessibility to new technologies in many application areas and overcoming the availability and cost limitation of silicon.
Then there are many startups in the Biotech landscape that promise to have significant impacts on people's lives even in terms of less invasive treatments. I'm thinking of Pep Therapy, which is developing a peptide for particularly aggressive forms of cancer with still decidedly low survival rates, Kither Biotech (treating cystic fibrosis and substantially increasing lung disease), Resalis (treating obesity and liver steatosis).
Last but not least Futurely. Two young women who are extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic and determined to put their skills at the service of young people in the sometimes-difficult path of choosing studies and their professional future through a digital platform.
All realities that demonstrate how technological innovation can have a positive and large-scale impact.
The role of an angel investor often goes beyond just financial support to include mentorship and strategic guidance. In your opinion, what are the areas where startups most need support to grow and succeed in the long run?
In my experience, startups often need support in managing the scale-up and internationalization phase. The ability to adapt the business model to changing markets is then often a challenge that needs strategic guidance. Another critical area is team development: the ability to attract and retain qualified talent is critical. In addition, many startups benefit from guidance in addressing day-to-day operational challenges, such as optimizing internal processes or managing financial resources. As an angel investor, I try to offer my expertise in these areas, as well as provide access to networks that can accelerate the company's growth.
From an investor perspective, how important is it for a startup to integrate principles of inclusion and diversity into its operations and corporate culture from an early stage? Do you think this can influence long-term success?
Inclusion and diversity are critical factors in the long-term success of a startup. As much research shows, diverse teams benefit from different perspectives and a variety of approaches in looking at the same reality and offer better performance in terms of innovation and decision-making. An inclusive corporate culture not only attracts talent but also improves organizational resilience. In addition, companies that integrate diversity from the outset are better prepared to respond to global markets and navigate an increasingly competitive environment. As an investor, I view these principles as strategic, as they directly influence a startup's ability to scale and sustain its competitive advantage over time.
Beyond startups with diverse leadership, in what ways can investors actively contribute to building a more equitable and inclusive innovative ecosystem? What strategies would you like to see adopted more widely in the investment industry?
Investors have a responsibility to foster a more equitable and inclusive ecosystem not only through capital, but also through their strategic choices. We must actively seek out and support startups with diverse leadership and ensure that access to capital is equitable. That is why I co-founded venti35capital, a fund that will enable us to go beyond the size and resources of single angel investor and invest and give support to startups with female co-founders and foster diverse teams within them. I hope that venti35capital is not the only Italian entity with this goal but to see more funds and initiatives that explicitly focus on the inclusion of underrepresented entrepreneurs. In addition, investors can play an educational role, promoting greater awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion not only within startups but also in the investment sector tout court to ensure more equitable and sustainable growth.