Companies working on telehealth services, online coaching and software for the hospitality sector are among the Italian entries in Sifted’s new ranking of the fastest-growing French and Southern European startups.
Italy bags 28 out of the top 100 spots in the leaderboard, which ranks companies based on strongest revenue growth over the past three years. It’s the second most represented country after France, which has 44 companies. B2B SaaS is the top category among the Italian startups on the ranking, making up half of this year’s submissions.
The companies are spread out across the country. Milan is obviously represented, but it doesn’t completely rule the roost. There are startups from Turin and Naples too. And at a time when ultra-lean tech teams are all the rage, there’s one here: Rome-based telehealth platform Doctorsa, which has more than 100k users but only seven employees.
The 10 fastest-growing Italian startups in full
1/ Serenis
2-year CAGR: 253.55%
Launch year: 2021
Rank: 11
Employees: 60
Milan-based telehealth service Serenis, founded by Silvia Wang and Daniele Francescon in 2021, offers online access to therapists. The idea for the company came from Francescon, who says he suffered from anxiety and didn’t know where to turn. Serenis has raised €6.5m from investors including FG2 Capital, Lumen Ventures, Azimut Digitech Fund and Invictus Capital. Its main competitor in Italy, Unobravo, is also on this ranking.
2/ 2WATCH
2-year CAGR: 253.55%
Launch year: 2020
Rank: 12
Employees: 10
2Watch, based in Naples, produces online content using a variety of formats and tools, including AI, CGI, VFX and motion capture. The company has raised €1.3m.
3/ Toduba
2-year CAGR: 215.86%
Launch year: 2017
Rank: 17
Employees: 27
Turin-based Toduba replaces paper meal vouchers or cards with vouchers you can store on your smartphone. The company has raised €3.4m.
4/ Wibo
2-year CAGR: 204.86%
Launch year: 2019
Rank: 20
Employees: 10
Turin-based Wibo, founded by Tommaso Seita and Alessandro Busso, has signed up a bunch of top executives to offer coaching to professionals. The company has raised €500k.
5/ Exein
2-year CAGR: 201.70%
Launch year: 2018
Rank: 22
Employees: 43
Rome-based Exein is an AI-powered cybersecurity platform for connected devices across different sectors. The startup raised a €15m Series B in July 2024 from investors including Partech, Redstone and United Ventures.
6/ Simplifhy
2-year CAGR: 197.72%
Launch year: 2021
Rank: 26
Employees: 10
Simplifhy’s main product, Hyper-gen, uses renewable energy to produce electricity in a compact, plug-and-play setup. Headed by engineer Sergio Torriani, the company stands out as a profitable climate tech startup operating with just 10 employees.
7/ Unobravo
2-year CAGR: 196.27%
Launch year: 2019
Rank: 27
Employees: 156
Unobravo, one of Italy’s first online therapy platforms, matches patients with therapists via an algorithm-driven quiz. Founded by CEO Danila De Stefano, who’s a clinical psychologist, the startup bootstrapped early on before raising a €17m Series A in 2022 led by Insight Partners.
8/ Doctorsa
2-year CAGR: 148.36%
Launch year: 2018
Rank: 35
Employees: 7
Rome-based telehealth platform Doctorsa connects people with pre-vetted doctors. Patients can book virtual consultations in less than 10 minutes and receive digital prescriptions. Despite boasting more than 100k users, the company remains fully bootstrapped and profitable, operating with a lean team of just seven employees.
9/ Smartness
2-year CAGR: 140.83%
Launch year: 2020
Rank: 41
Employees: 134
Smartness offers an AI‑driven SaaS platform for hotels, B&Bs and holiday rentals to automate pricing, marketing, guest journeys and revenue management. It has raised €18.2m from investors including Partech, Techshop and Azimut Group.
10/ Green Future Project
2-year CAGR: 137.58%
Launch year: 2020
Rank: 42
Employees: 30
Milan-based Green Future Project offers a sustainability management platform that helps companies track, reduce and offset their environmental impact. It last raised a €2.2m seed round from investors including Inovexus, Prana Ventures and Finint Investments.
You can view the full leaderboard here and the accompanying report here.
