“The acquisition of WSense will take place through a specially created special purpose vehicle, in which Fincantieri holds a stake, into which the shares held by the founding shareholders will be transferred. The special purpose vehicle will enter into share purchase agreements with the founding shareholders, who will reinvest 75 per cent of their shares, and with all current WSense shareholders. The completion of the agreements is subject to the usual conditions precedent, including Golden Power and FDI authorisations, and is subject to the acceptance of the offer by the minority shareholders. At the end of this first phase, Fincantieri will hold a 61.95% stake in the special purpose vehicle.”
With this announcement, Fincantieri has revealed that it has initiated the process of acquiring – or rather, gaining control of – WSense, a move that forms part of a package of acquisitions also involving Next Geosolutions, Graal Tech and Defcomm, all of which operate in the fields of underwater technology, marine drones and underwater communications, with a total initial investment of around 600 million euros, as we have reported here; however, the value of the individual transactions, including that of WSense, has not been disclosed.
Chiara Petrioli, CEO of WSense (pictured), commented in a statement on Fincantieri’s acquisition of a majority stake in the scale-up: “This transaction marks the start of a new phase of development for WSense and represents a moment of great satisfaction in our journey as a scale-up.” “We are maintaining our autonomy and identity as a deep-tech company, whilst at the same time strengthening our ability to roll out our technologies on a global scale. This deal demonstrates that it is possible in Italy to build successful models of innovation, in which a deep-tech company becomes a strategic enabler for the competitiveness of a major international group and the country’s economy.”
In fact, the partnership between WSense and Fincantieri has already seen a number of previous developments: following the €9 million funding round the company secured in October 2023, another of €7.2 million followed in April 2025, in which Fincantieri itself also took a stake; the following October, WSense raised a further €10 million, with Fincantieri again participating in the round; but it was in February 2026 that the two companies signed a strategic partnership, a move that has now led to the announcement made in recent days.
WSense is a deep-tech scale-up founded as a spin-off from La Sapienza University of Rome and specialising in underwater and sub-surface monitoring and communication systems; even with Fincantieri’s entry, the company will retain its autonomy and identity as a deep-tech firm, with full continuity in governance and management. The company will continue on the growth trajectory that has characterised its development in recent years, remaining a driving force for technological innovation and accelerating the development of its technologies on an international scale, within a rapidly evolving and increasingly strategic market.
Thanks to its expertise in underwater communications, wireless submarine networks and the Internet of Underwater Things, WSense will contribute to the development of the Fincantieri Group’s underwater strategy, enabling data exchange between platforms, sensors and vehicles and facilitating the creation of increasingly interconnected, autonomous and resilient ecosystems. The partnership between the two companies dates back to 2023, following the MoU signed in December of that year, with joint activities on numerous national and international tenders, integrating WSense technologies into Fincantieri’s DEEP demonstrator, as well as into a series of infrastructure monitoring projects.
This transaction represents an innovative model within the industrial innovation landscape, in which a major group chooses to invest directly in a high-potential deep-tech company, supporting its growth through industrial know-how, access to global markets and operational capabilities – an approach aimed at accelerating the development of strategic Italian technologies and their success on international markets.
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