The Under 30 Entrepreneur Investing in Digital Companies

WINNER OF AN AWARD FROM FORBES ITALY, ANDREA COLOMBO TRAVELS THE WORLD SEARCHING FOR INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN HIGHTECH


According to Forbes, he is one of the 100 Italians under 30 years of age who are reinventing the country’s economy. In fact, Andrea Colombo, a 28-year-old from Monza who graduated in Law from Bocconi in 2013, is the founder of U-Start, a consulting company established in 2014 and currently headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, "although we are officially coming back to Milano, because being Italian is increasingly a competitive asset," Andrea explains. U-Start connects Italian investors with investment opportunities around the world in digital and high-tech, especially in Europe and the United States.

"I found my way into U-Start gradually, after my first experiences at the university and an internship in London at Lehman Brothers, just before the financial crisis broke out: "Until then, I had thought that investment banking was going to be my thing, but as I entered my last year at Bocconi, I was struck by the lightning of digital." Today U-Start is a growing company that has an advantage over the competition: "Our strong point is what I call the method, a heritage of skills acquired through years of activity which translates into a great ability to network with tech investors and innovators," Andrea continues.

«We have made over 30 investments for a total of  almost €40 million invested, both in well-known companies as Deliveroo and Secret Escapes, and in highly innovative startups like Finless Foods, a Silicon Valley company that creates synthetic fish in the lab. In the food innovation industry, being Italian is definitely a plus».

The Forbes award is an important and unexpected form of recognition of the work done by U-Start; it goes to the person but obviously acknowledges the company and brings positive repercussions in terms of credibility and visibility. As Andrea explains: «We have in a sense closed phase 1, where we had to make ourselves known and show that we are capable in what we do. Now stage 2 is starting, in which we’ll strive to become a staple of the high-tech industry, because in Italy there is a lot of money to be invested in high-tech and many digital opportunities to be seized».
 

by Davide Ripamonti
Translated by Alex Foti