Ever heard of Riccardo Zacconi, one of the top 100 media personality in the UK according to The Guardian? He is one of the founders of Candy Crush, the most famous game on Facebook and mobile phones with 44 million users every month. He is one of the most famous representatives of the Italian startup generation, highly creative entrepreneurs trying to make the most out of all the possibilities offered by technology, media and social networks. Here are some of our favorites.
Being Italian, we can only start with food. Food is one of Italy’s passions and Italian people can’t stay behind the scenes for too long when it comes to good food and drink.
ORIGINàRIO, FOOD WITH AN ACCENT
Originàrio brings rare and authentic products crafted by some of Italy’s most skillful artisans to passionate food and wine lovers. They are so committed to the finest foods and drinks that they find out everything about the origin of their products (from here the name Originàrio) and they know how each food and drink is made. Their aim is to showcase the quality of the best Italian food products and biodiversity of Italian culture. We recommend a visit to their website, you won’t be able to resist their boxes full of exclusive products!
FOODSCOVERY, AT THE ORIGIN OF TASTE
Foodscovery is also committed to excellence, sourcing foods with unique flavors and a history behind, created with passion and dedication. The mission of Foodscovery is to reveal the best handcrafted treasures that have been preserved in the Italian culture and traditions. They have a good selection of products from pasta to meat and fish, from vegetables and fruits to all kind of bakery and desserts. You can also find a list of wines, beers and liqueurs and a special section for organic and gluten-free products. A true journey of discovery through the foods and drinks of Italy.
EATTIAMO
Another new startup of food is Eattimo, who puts you in direct contact with the manufacturer without any intermediaries. They also provide catering services with a selection of high-quality typical products, perfect to make your event unique.
WINEOWINE
Maybe the most important Italian startup at the moment, wineOwine helps users discover selected wines from artisan producers and small wineries. A team of expert winemakers work closely with the producers to ensure the best selection of wines week in week out.
The aim at wineOwine is give users the opportunity to find niche wines that are difficult to find in traditional wine bars and give an opportunity to craft winemakers to make themselves known and sell their products to the general public.
From food, on to technology and education with some of the most talked-about Italian startups.
EARLYNINJA
Earlyninja is a platform created by Edoardo Cassina that guarantees the purchase of video games in development but playable without risk of losing the money invested if the game is not completed. The mission of this startup is to protect the gamer and create an efficient marketplace for the best indie video games.
TUTORED
Tutored is a platform for students that allows them to offer and look for private lessons, exchange useful teaching material for the preparation of exams and tests and refer to a number of updated information on current events, activities and educational offerings from the different European universities.
BIDTOTRIP
Bidtotrip is a platform that offers holidays in top-level hotels around the world at bargain prices. The creators are three 30-something Italian entrepreneurs. Bidtotrip is based on an auction model and is the first website to give the opportunity to win a journey and to set the price for it. You choose the destination, enroll by paying a fee of 3€ entry, and, if you are lucky and win the bid, you win the hoilday. You won’t spend more than you decide and you’ll do it very easily. If you don;t win, you’ll get back all the travel points you have used and you’ll be able to join other auctions, so there is no real loss there.
PRIMO.IO
Matteo Loglio and Filippo Yacob, two guys in their late 20’s from the small Italian town of Bergamo living in London created this highly-educational and fun game for children that with a set of coloured blocks teaches them the basic programming concepts.
Primo.Io broke all records on Kickstarter raising a whopping $1.5million, becoming the technological innovation that achieved the highest level of investment on the platform, and has been endorsed among others by Randy Zuckenberg, sister of the more famous Marc.
