Techshop Launches €43M Techshop II Fund for B2B SaaS

TL;DR

The Techshop, the Milan-based seed and pre-seed specialist, has launched its second fund, Techshop II, with a €43 million first close on a target that runs as high as €100 million by 2027. The firm is doubling down on B2B SaaS with an explicit thesis that AI is turning software into "agentic systems" capable of partial autonomy, and it's backed the bet by adding Giovanni Strocchi as a third partner alongside founders Gianluca D'Agostino and Aurelio Mezzotero. Fund I returned a 1.8x MOIC across 19 companies including Shopcircle and AxyonAI, giving Techshop a real track record to raise its largest vehicle yet.

Key Takeaways

Italy still doesn't have many seed specialists, and Techshop is trying to own that lane. The firm explicitly positions itself as one of the few Italian funds primarily focused on seed stage, in a market where most domestic capital either clusters around later, safer rounds or defers to international investors for anything past a first check. A near-doubling of fund size on the back of a credible Fund I is a bet that this positioning is working.

The agentic-systems thesis is the right read on where B2B SaaS is heading, but it's also increasingly crowded. Techshop's framing, that AI turns SaaS from tools into systems with partial autonomy across consulting, healthcare, finance and enterprise software, matches where most sophisticated B2B investors have converged over the past two years. The differentiation will need to come from origination and operating support, not from being early to the thesis.

Adding a third partner for Fund II signals real scaling ambition, not just a bigger check size. Giovanni Strocchi joining Gianluca D'Agostino and Aurelio Mezzotero as the fund roughly doubles in size is a sensible structural move, more capital without more investment capacity is how funds end up writing bigger checks into weaker deals just to stay deployed.

CDP Venture Capital's continued backing matters for the broader Italian ecosystem, not just this fund. As an LP through its Fund of Funds vehicles, Italy's state-backed venture capital arm re-upping into Techshop II is a signal that the state's fund-of-funds strategy is willing to back repeat, specialist managers rather than only spreading capital across first-time funds.

Fund Overview

Fund Name: Techshop II
Fund Size: €43 million first close, targeting up to €100 million by 2027 (Fund I was €53 million, closed in 2022)
Stage: Pre-seed and seed
Check Size: Not disclosed
Geography: At least 70% into EU/EEA companies with a permanent establishment in Italy; remaining allocation aimed at the rest of Europe
Focus: B2B SaaS and the shift toward AI-driven, agentic enterprise software across consulting, healthcare, finance, software development, customer conversation, data management, enterprise applications, and robotics/manufacturing
Key LPs: CDP Venture Capital, through its FoF VenturItaly II and Digital Transition Fund vehicles

Why This Fund Matters

Italy's venture capital market remains structurally underdeveloped relative to its economy, with domestic LPs historically underweight venture as an asset class and most large seed and Series A rounds for Italian startups still requiring an international lead investor to get done. Specialist, repeat seed managers like Techshop matter disproportionately in that environment, because they're the funds most likely to be first checks into companies before they're legible enough for foreign capital to engage, and their survival and ability to raise larger follow-on funds is a rough proxy for whether the domestic seed layer of the ecosystem is actually maturing.

The near-doubling from a €53 million Fund I to a Fund II targeting as much as €100 million reflects both genuine performance (a 1.8x MOIC and 1.5x TVPI on Fund I is a solid, if not spectacular, mark for a seed fund still working through its portfolio) and a broader recognition that seed check sizes across Europe have crept up even as valuations have compressed from 2021 peaks, meaning funds need more capital just to maintain the same ownership targets they had three years ago.

The fund's B2B SaaS and agentic-systems thesis is well-aligned with where enterprise software investing has converged broadly, but Techshop's specific value is less about thesis originality and more about being embedded early in the Italian and broader EU/EEA founder ecosystem for this category. The stated 70% Italy-establishment requirement, likely a function of its CDP Venture Capital LP base and Italian fund-of-funds mandates, keeps the fund tightly tied to domestic company formation even as it explicitly reserves roughly 30% of capital for founders elsewhere in Europe.

CDP Venture Capital's continued participation as an LP is arguably the more structurally important detail here. Italy's state-backed venture strategy, channeled through vehicles like FoF VenturItaly II and the Digital Transition Fund, has spent several years building out a domestic manager base from largely first-time funds. A firm like Techshop successfully raising a substantially larger Fund II, with CDP re-upping rather than being replaced by a new cohort of debut managers, suggests that strategy is starting to produce repeat, scalable managers rather than a permanently fragmented landscape of one-fund shops.

The Team

Gianluca D'Agostino and Aurelio Mezzotero co-founded The Techshop and led Fund I's deployment and portfolio construction. Giovanni Strocchi has joined as a partner for Fund II, expanding the investment team's capacity as the fund roughly doubles in size, a structural addition that suggests the founders are treating Fund II as a genuine step up in scale and operating complexity rather than simply a larger version of the same two-person operation.

Early Portfolio

Fund I backed 19 companies, with named investments including Shop Circle (since rebranded Circeus), Smartness, hlpy, Qomodo, Tot, AxyonAI, GenomeUp, SylloTips and Allsides. The firm reports a 1.8x MOIC and 1.5x TVPI across the Fund I portfolio to date. Fund II's specific investments have not yet been disclosed at first close.

What This Means for Founders

Italian and broader EU/EEA B2B SaaS founders building at pre-seed or seed, particularly those building toward agentic or AI-native enterprise software in consulting, healthcare, finance, or industrial/manufacturing verticals, are squarely in Techshop's target zone, and now with a larger fund and a three-partner team, likely more capacity to lead and follow on across a round than Fund I could offer.

For founders outside Italy considering Techshop as an investor, the roughly 30% non-Italy allocation is real but limited, worth pursuing if there's a genuine fit with the fund's B2B SaaS and agentic-systems thesis, but this remains a fund whose center of gravity, LP base and origination network are built around the Italian ecosystem first.

Fund Momentum Take

A 1.8x MOIC on a seed fund still working through its J-curve is a genuinely good, credible result, not a great one, and that distinction matters for how we read the near-doubling to Fund II. This looks like a fund earning the right to scale rather than one riding a standout Fund I into an oversized follow-up, which is the healthier pattern and probably why CDP Venture Capital stayed on as an LP rather than the raise leaning on new anchor capital.

The real risk sits in the agentic-systems thesis becoming table stakes language rather than a genuine edge. Every serious B2B-focused seed fund in Europe is now describing some version of "AI turns software into autonomous systems," which means Techshop's actual differentiation has to come from origination quality and hands-on support in the Italian ecosystem specifically, areas the firm has a real track record in, rather than from being early to a framing that's now common across the category.

Our bet: Techshop's value is less about picking the right AI thesis and more about being one of the only credible domestic-first seed leads for Italian B2B SaaS founders. If it can hold that position while deploying a fund nearly double the size of Fund I without diluting its hands-on, seed-stage discipline, it becomes one of the more important connective pieces in an Italian venture ecosystem that still needs more of them.

Frequently Asked Questions

How large is Techshop II?
The fund has reached a €43 million first close, with a target of up to €100 million by 2027. Fund I closed at €53 million in 2022.

What stage and sector does Techshop invest in?
Pre-seed and seed stage B2B SaaS companies, with a specific focus on AI-driven, agentic enterprise software across consulting, healthcare, finance, data management, enterprise applications, and robotics/manufacturing.

Where does Techshop invest geographically?
At least 70% into EU/EEA companies with a permanent establishment in Italy, with the remaining roughly 30% aimed at the rest of Europe.

Who runs Techshop?
Co-founders Gianluca D'Agostino and Aurelio Mezzotero, joined by Giovanni Strocchi as a partner for Fund II.

How did Fund I perform?
The firm reports a 1.8x MOIC and 1.5x TVPI across Fund I's 19 portfolio companies, which include Shop Circle (now Circeus) and AxyonAI.

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