Rome, the capital of Italy, a city of great beauty and one of the most important European capitals of history and heritage – there’s no wonder it’s one of the most sought-after destinations by tourists every year from around the world.
But in addition to the majestic Colosseum and a tasty carbonara, Rome is now attracting more attention from international investors and putting itself on the map of European startup hubs.
For many years, the Eternal City has been moving towards a more innovative turning point, always trying to maintain its traditions. Now, there are many startups that are being born in Rome which have also been supported by accelerators and different universities that have themselves developed incubation hubs for young ideas and young entrepreneurs.
In the following article, we take a look at 10 startups from Rome to keep an eye on from 2022 onwards. They are all startups that have been founded since 2018.
Witty: Founded in 2020 by the minds of three engineers of La Sapienza University in Rome, Witty tries to support people’s need to always have battery charge on their phones – which we all know can be a struggle sometimes. It also helps to lengthen battery life cycles and therefore to decrease the waste of buying a new smartphone. Witty’s solution claims to be able to double the useful life of the batteries of smartphones, tablets or any other device rechargeable via USB. It is a small plugin, which goes between the charger and the charging cable of the device to be recharged. Witty uses ASO (Automatic Shut Off) technology, patented by the founders, is an innovative and eco-friendly idea.
BeSafe Rate: Founded in 2021 in the midst of covid, BeSafe Rate was developed to solve a problem that’s still prevalent today – the impossibility of being able to go on vacation without the fear of losing money, either for the hotelier or for the guest. The Roman tech company allows accommodation providers to offer a rate that includes favourable travel insurance in the prices as standard. It safeguards the receipts of hoteliers through the protection of their guests, without guests having to front the bill. The startup has now raised about €1.7 million and is expanding fast.
Exein: This Rome-headquartered startup was founded in 2018 and is active in the field of cyber security and loT security. It employs firmware security software that can operate offline without the need for cloud computing, and, it integrates directly into the firmware thanks to advanced code optimization. It offers users full visibility into their IoT fleet, giving security teams the ability to respond immediately to threats anywhere within the network. Cybersecurity is a critical point of concern for businesses and organisations across the world, giving Exein expansive market potential. The startup has received a total of €8 million as it works to harness the potential of the IoT in a safe and secure way.
Epicode: Founded in 2020, Epicode is a revolutionary edtech startup dedicated to short intense courses that elevate people’s training and skills development. The Rome-based company runs courses in ‘bootcamp’ style, enabling users to become web developers in just three months and immediately insert them into the working world. With 100% online courses, the content is fully accessible to all. It is also based on practice, with 70% of the course dedicated to putting learnings to work – a belief that you learn by doing. The young company has already raised €1 million and is set to further grow and expand as the European demand for web developers is only growing.
Wetacoo: Launched in 2021, Wetacoo has been shaking up the self-storage and moving industry. Wetacoo gives its users a temporary storage solution where they can store their items without too much stress. Its platform, which is also available for mobile use, can be used to look for the space plan needed- ranging from 1 to 20 square meters, and that includes collection, storage and redelivery. There is the possibility of inserting additional services such as insurance, withdrawal to the floor and assembly and replacement. In November 2021 Wetacoo received a founding amount of €750k.
ZeroCO2: Innovative a B-corp certified startup ZeroCO2 develops solutions to mitigate the climate crisis and has been doing so since 2019. The main focus is on reforestation with the planting of trees in different areas of the world with the aim of generating positive environmental and social impact. Every single tree planted is donated to local families who are invited to take part in a training course on organic cultivation and sustainable land management. In this way, they can generate food security and economic support. ZeroCO2 gives everyone the opportunity to create their own forest by adopting trees on their digital platform and to follow their growth through the innovative tracking system. Since its inception, 600,000 trees have been planted and supported 9000 families.
Loquis: Since it’s launch in 2018, Loquis has been shaping travel through its podcasting platform. It allows users to share and listen to the stories of the places they visit through so-called ‘geo-podcasts’. Podcasts cover various topics and themes, all sharing the aim of telling stories, curiosities and peculiarities of each place – giving a unique travel experience. The startup has received a total of €1 million so far and has ambitious growth plans in the pipeline – creating real value for real people embarking on real adventures.
RockAgent: One for the proptech space, RockAgent was founded in 2018 and rides the wave of a post-covid trend – the digital transformation of real estate. RockAgent is a hybrid real estate agency that provides its agents with a platform based on Big Data and algorithms to improve the matching between supply and demand. In this way, the average sales times are reduced considerably: a claimed 45 days against about 6 months with classic agencies. It gives property owners access to a personal platform to check in real time the progress of negotiations, appointments set by the agent, the visibility obtained by online ads, statistics and other useful insights. In June 2019 the startup received a funding round of about €3 million.
Sensoworks: Founded in 2020, Sensoworks is an Italian startup specializing in infrastructure monitoring. Sensoworks’ expertise ranges from the monitoring of civil infrastructure, including advanced water and sewerage systems, to Industry 4.0, up to solutions related to city services in the field of smart cities: waste management, sustainable mobility, and smart parking. Now a particular commitment of Sensoworks is aimed at ecological transition and sustainable economic development. The startup uses tech to monitor, predict and give control to users over complex data sources in real-time. The aim is to contribute to building more sustainable buildings, and smarter cities. Sensoworks has now raised about €560k.
Wallife: Calculating risk is itself a risky business. Being able to predict the possibilities of what can happen amongst endless scenarios is a complex process – but one that is increasingly sought after. Founded in 2020, Wallife is a pioneering startup providing answers about safety and protection from still unknown risks – from biohacking to digital identity. Wallife studies and investigates the new boundaries of the risks, originated by the technological and scientific progress, linked to the existence of the human being itself, on both a biological and a digital level. Wallife closed a round of €12 million in June 2022, earning a total capital of €17.1 million.
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