New $25.5M Fund Backs Europe's Dual-Use Tech Startups

Jan de Vries · 2026-10-06

Italy just made a quiet but powerful move in the venture capital world. NVM Ventures launched its first fund, NVM Venture Lazio, with €23.6 million (about $25.5 million) to back dual-use startups. These are companies whose tech serves both commercial and defense markets. If you're watching European deeptech, this is one to note. ### What Exactly Is NVM Venture Lazio? NVM Venture Lazio is a compartment of NVM Ventures, a new multi-compartment fund structure. It plans to invest in 10 to 15 companies at pre-seed and seed stages. The focus? STEP technologies—strategic, dual-use areas like aerospace, maritime, robotics, cybersecurity, AI for defense, energy infrastructure, new materials, advanced manufacturing, and biotech. The fund was founded by Andrea Bonabello and Niccolò Bienati of Ulixes Capital Lux. They brought in fund managers Giorgio Gulienetti and Alessandro Casiraghi to run day-to-day operations. ### The Money Trail: Who's Paying? Lazio Innova, the Lazio region's investment arm, committed €18.83 million (about $20.3 million) through Lazio Venture 2. That fund is co-financed by the ERDF Regional Programme 2021–2027. This isn't Lazio Innova's first rodeo—they also put €16 million into the €20 million Eureka! Fund II this year, targeting similar early-stage deeptech. Andrea Ciampalini, Director General of Lazio Innova, said: “With NVM Venture Lazio, we are further expanding the specialist expertise in dual-use frontier technologies within the regional venture capital platform. Investing in a first-time fund also reflects our commitment to backing emerging managers with distinctive skills.” ### Why Emerging Managers Are Suddenly Hot Institutional investors are warming up to first-time fund managers. According to the IPEM Allocation and Fundraising Trend Report 2027, 88% of Limited Partners are now interested in managers raising their first, second, or third fund—up from 65% the year before. And 64% are willing to commit to a Fund I. The results back this up. Research from the National Association of Investment Companies found that emerging manager programs outperformed by 700 basis points. That's a huge gap. As Andrea Bonabello put it: “NVM Ventures was created to meet this demand in Italy, with the goal of fostering a new generation of capable, ambitious managers who currently struggle to raise their first fund.” ### Italy's Dual-Use Tech Scene Is Heating Up This launch comes as investment in European defense and dual-use tech accelerates. In 2026 alone, EU-Startups tracked about €1.73 billion (around $1.87 billion) across ten defense and dual-use financings—spanning autonomous systems, space, cybersecurity, drone defense, and advanced materials. Italy is a big part of that: - Puglia-based Mirai Robotics raised €3.6 million ($3.9 million) for maritime autonomy. - Turin-based ORiS secured €5 million ($5.4 million) for space and wireless power tech. - Rome-based Exein, a cybersecurity firm, raised €234 million ($253 million) and hit unicorn status. ### Why Lazio? The Aerospace Advantage Lazio is the only Italian region with the full aerospace value chain—from research to manufacturing to services. According to regional data, over 300 companies with around 23,000 employees work in advanced technologies there. They generate over €5 billion ($5.4 billion) in annual revenue, including €1.6 billion ($1.73 billion) in exports. That density of research, talent, and industry creates a real opportunity to turn lab-born tech into scalable companies fast. ### The Multi-Compartment Structure NVM Ventures uses a multi-compartment model. Each investment thesis gets its own specialist team, while emerging managers share a common institutional framework for governance, risk, and compliance. It's a smart way to give first-timers the support they need without reinventing the wheel. For founders in dual-use deeptech, this means a new source of early-stage capital—and a region that's serious about turning research into revenue.