The Venture Codex

Led · Equity · Oct 2025

Dog Heroes offers freshly prepared, human-grade meals for dogs and positions itself as the only European player with both frozen and shelf-stable fresh products. Since its 2020 market launch, the company has served more than 25,000 dogs across Italy and shipped over 4 million individual meals. The business operates a multichannel model that combines D2C subscriptions, marketplace sales (including Amazon), and listings in pet-store chains such as Arcaplanet, Isola dei Tesori, Giulius and Finiper Pet Store. With the new capital it is expanding production capacity at its Lombardy facility, investing in technology and team growth, and deepening retail distribution. Product expansion is also underway: 2026 will see the rollout of a fresh-from-pantry cat food line alongside canine supplements. Management is targeting €15 million in revenue by 2027, leveraging increased marketing spend and channel diversification to drive growth. The company stresses “Made in Italy” quality as a key differentiator against international competitors and, for now, remains focused on the domestic market.

Led · Seed · Sep 2025

TextYess is a Milan-based startup that provides an AI-driven platform enabling e-commerce companies to sell products and engage customers directly through WhatsApp. Launched in January 2024 by former Blink growth manager Riccardo Russo and ex-GrowishPay engineer Edvaldo Gjonikaj, the solution integrates conversational AI agents that handle product discovery, purchasing, and support inside the messaging app. The technology is positioned to boost conversion rates by meeting shoppers in their preferred communication channel and automating routine interactions. Recent additions to the leadership team include Ilaria Carofiglio and Pietro di Chio, bringing experience from Charles, Talent Garden, and Scalapay. With fresh capital, TextYess plans to scale its AI agent suite, expand internationally, and build out its commercial organization. No revenue or user metrics have been publicly disclosed to date.

Led · Seed · Feb 2025

Focoos AI offers Anyma, a web platform that automates neural network design and training to produce ultra‑efficient, customizable computer vision models that run on low‑power edge devices and high‑performance servers. Its models are claimed to be up to four times more efficient and ten times faster than market standards, enabling on‑device inference for cameras, drones, satellites, and industrial use cases. The platform provides pre‑trained and device‑optimised networks, performance monitoring, and aims to reduce development time, cloud costs, and energy consumption. Founded in November 2022 as a spin‑off from Politecnico di Torino and incubated by I3P within ESA BIC Turin, the company is Turin‑based and currently has 11 employees. Focoos plans to launch the platform publicly, expand internationally (including plans to enter the US market by June), and grow both R&D and commercial teams to at least 20 employees over the next three years. The company has not disclosed total funding to date or a valuation.