Liquid Factory is the startup factory born in Valtellina in 2024 with the ambition to transform people with the desire to change the world into startup founders with global reach. The idea comes from Fabrizio Capobianco , a serial entrepreneur with experience between Italy and Silicon Valley, to offer European talent a new start-up model that he defines as more human, more concrete, more effective.
The programme is financed with four million euro by Banca Popolare di Sondrio to select four talents per year for four years, funding them with 200,000 euro each. The mission is to create global companies starting from Italy, accelerating the path to Silicon Valley with capital, support and method.
Liquid Factory is based in Sondrio, a city where selected talents find free office and accommodation for the duration of the programme, which lasts three months full-time residential, extendable up to twelve months at the entrepreneur’s discretion. During the period, participants receive mentor services with founders, investors and operators from Silicon Valley and Italy with access to global networks, such as Y Combinator and Techstars, who help the entrepreneur with branding, fundraising, legal aspects, go-to-market and team building. The initiative is aimed at entrepreneurs with potential, with or without an idea, who want to build scalable, ambitious and technology-driven start-ups and who during the course of the programme will take the steps towards: setting up the company, developing an MVP, acquiring the first customers, defining the growth and fundraising path.
‘Liquid Factory represents a revolutionary approach: it selects people, not just projects, and puts them in a position to create global start-ups in just five months,’ Capobianco (pictured) explains to Startupbusiness. ‘The programme fuses significant capital, world-class mentorship and an inspiring location like Valtellina. The results of the first batch prove it: structured teams, products on the market, revenue and even a start-up already in Silicon Valley. It is proof that, with the right conditions, even from the mountains one can build the future’.
Applications for the second batch are open until 30 June 2025, the programme is renewed by building on the experience, numbers and results of the first edition, which took place between January and May this year and received 181 applications from more than 20 countries, selected four entrepreneurs who were funded with 200,000 euros each and who, after the five months of the programme, have formed their teams, launched the MVP on the market, three of them already have their first paying customers and one of the start-ups has already had the opportunity to be selected for an interview with the well-known Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator.
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