How it emerged as an ecosystem builder

Cillario and Onofri built Cubbit (a geo-distributed cloud storage scaleup) in Bologna and experienced firsthand the difficulty of accessing late-stage capital locally . Rather than waiting for the ecosystem to evolve organically, they launched TBG in 2023 as a curated matchmaking platform . The model works: the 2026 edition (4th edition, May 11-13) hosted over 500 innovation leaders from Europe, the Americas and Asia, with attending investment firms managing more than €50 billion in assets and participating startups having raised over €1.2 billion collectively . The 2025 edition generated over 1,000 one-to-one meetings between investors, founders, and corporate leaders in less than eight hours .

TBG is registered as a nonprofit and operates as a concentrated 30-hour networking format where curated VCs and corporates meet the best of the Italian tech scene .

Key factors driving growth

1. Founder-driven community investment

TBG is a case of successful founders reinvesting their networks and credibility back into the local ecosystem. Cillario and Onofri explicitly state that after talking with local institutions about their AI infrastructure investments, they recognized the need to "cultivate an ecosystem that can take full advantage" of those assets . This bottom-up, founder-led approach—rare in Italy—is creating a virtuous cycle where successful locals actively build the next generation's support system.

2. Bologna's industrial and AI infrastructure strengths

Bologna's economy has long been anchored in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and deeptech, not just food and the university . More critically, the city is home to CINECA and the DAMA Technopole, which hosts the Leonardo supercomputer—a pre-exascale Tier-0 EuroHPC system ranked 6th in the Top500 list with ~250 petaflops peak performance . In 2026, this facility received major upgrades: the IT4LIA AI Factory (a €300M+ EuroHPC-backed initiative) and the inauguration of the SOL quantum computer alongside the LISA upgrade, cementing Bologna as one of Europe's densest HPC/AI infrastructure nodes . This creates an unmatched environment for AI, biotech, and deeptech startups.

3. Brain circulation of returning Italian founders

While the search budget did not allow a dedicated deep dive on this angle, the TBG model itself is premised on reconnecting Italian founders (many of whom built careers abroad) with the domestic ecosystem. The presence of 17 Italian unicorns collectively valued at $44.6 billion (with Prima and Namirial reaching unicorn status in 2025) signals that capital and talent are increasingly flowing back to Italy . TBG serves as the physical platform where this "brain circulation" crystallizes.

4. Recent startup ecosystem momentum

Italy's deeptech VC hit a record €693 million in 2024, up 14% from 2023 and a 7.5x increase from €84 million in 2015 . Late-stage deals dominated (68% of 2024 capital), showing maturing companies able to absorb larger rounds . Nationally, Q1 2026 saw 225 VC funding rounds—an 80% increase year-over-year, the highest quarterly total in a decade . Italian tech companies raised $768 million in 2025, and European Series A funding in Q1 2026 accelerated 56% above the 2025 quarterly average . Bologna itself counts 254 active innovative startups (as of Dec 2025), with 3.4 startups per 1,000 active companies vs. 2.4 nationally .

5. Notable local companies

Beyond Cubbit (the anchor scaleup behind TBG), Bologna's deeptech landscape includes:

• Musixmatch—a global music data platform
• identifAI—AI-powered identity verification
• CellPly—biotech/life sciences
• AdapTronics—deeptech startup redefining robotic grasping for Earth and space applications using Electro Adhesive clutches
• Exein—cybersecurity scaleup that raised a record €70-100M double-round in 2025

The region is also home to over 280+ innovative startups, with the University of Bologna (via Almacube) and Fondazione Golinelli (G-Factor) acting as the main institutional innovation engines .

Bottom line

The Bologna Gathering has emerged as the essential bridge between Bologna's formidable technical assets (Leonardo supercomputer, CINECA, advanced manufacturing heritage) and the global VC network needed to fund deeptech at scale. What makes it distinctive is that it is founder-built and founder-led—a signal that Bologna's ecosystem has reached a maturity inflection point where its own successful entrepreneurs are now the primary catalysts for the next wave.

How it emerged as an ecosystem builder

Cillario and Onofri built Cubbit (a geo-distributed cloud storage scaleup) in Bologna and experienced firsthand the difficulty of accessing late-stage capital locally . Rather than waiting for the ecosystem to evolve organically, they launched TBG in 2023 as a curated matchmaking platform . The model works: the 2026 edition (4th edition, May 11-13) hosted over 500 innovation leaders from Europe, the Americas and Asia, with attending investment firms managing more than €50 billion in assets and participating startups having raised over €1.2 billion collectively . The 2025 edition generated over 1,000 one-to-one meetings between investors, founders, and corporate leaders in less than eight hours .

TBG is registered as a nonprofit and operates as a concentrated 30-hour networking format where curated VCs and corporates meet the best of the Italian tech scene .

Key factors driving growth

1. Founder-driven community investment

TBG is a case of successful founders reinvesting their networks and credibility back into the local ecosystem. Cillario and Onofri explicitly state that after talking with local institutions about their AI infrastructure investments, they recognized the need to "cultivate an ecosystem that can take full advantage" of those assets . This bottom-up, founder-led approach—rare in Italy—is creating a virtuous cycle where successful locals actively build the next generation's support system.

2. Bologna's industrial and AI infrastructure strengths

Bologna's economy has long been anchored in advanced manufacturing, engineering, and deeptech, not just food and the university . More critically, the city is home to CINECA and the DAMA Technopole, which hosts the Leonardo supercomputer—a pre-exascale Tier-0 EuroHPC system ranked 6th in the Top500 list with ~250 petaflops peak performance . In 2026, this facility received major upgrades: the IT4LIA AI Factory (a €300M+ EuroHPC-backed initiative) and the inauguration of the SOL quantum computer alongside the LISA upgrade, cementing Bologna as one of Europe's densest HPC/AI infrastructure nodes . This creates an unmatched environment for AI, biotech, and deeptech startups.

3. Brain circulation of returning Italian founders

While the search budget did not allow a dedicated deep dive on this angle, the TBG model itself is premised on reconnecting Italian founders (many of whom built careers abroad) with the domestic ecosystem. The presence of 17 Italian unicorns collectively valued at $44.6 billion (with Prima and Namirial reaching unicorn status in 2025) signals that capital and talent are increasingly flowing back to Italy . TBG serves as the physical platform where this "brain circulation" crystallizes.

4. Recent startup ecosystem momentum

Italy's deeptech VC hit a record €693 million in 2024, up 14% from 2023 and a 7.5x increase from €84 million in 2015 . Late-stage deals dominated (68% of 2024 capital), showing maturing companies able to absorb larger rounds . Nationally, Q1 2026 saw 225 VC funding rounds—an 80% increase year-over-year, the highest quarterly total in a decade . Italian tech companies raised $768 million in 2025, and European Series A funding in Q1 2026 accelerated 56% above the 2025 quarterly average . Bologna itself counts 254 active innovative startups (as of Dec 2025), with 3.4 startups per 1,000 active companies vs. 2.4 nationally .

5. Notable local companies

Beyond Cubbit (the anchor scaleup behind TBG), Bologna's deeptech landscape includes:

• Musixmatch—a global music data platform
• identifAI—AI-powered identity verification
• CellPly—biotech/life sciences
• AdapTronics—deeptech startup redefining robotic grasping for Earth and space applications using Electro Adhesive clutches
• Exein—cybersecurity scaleup that raised a record €70-100M double-round in 2025

The region is also home to over 280+ innovative startups, with the University of Bologna (via Almacube) and Fondazione Golinelli (G-Factor) acting as the main institutional innovation engines .

Bottom line

The Bologna Gathering has emerged as the essential bridge between Bologna's formidable technical assets (Leonardo supercomputer, CINECA, advanced manufacturing heritage) and the global VC network needed to fund deeptech at scale. What makes it distinctive is that it is founder-built and founder-led—a signal that Bologna's ecosystem has reached a maturity inflection point where its own successful entrepreneurs are now the primary catalysts for the next wave.