Withers advises on the launch of Italian venture capital tool SAFE 2.0

International law firm Withers has assisted with the creation of SAFE 2.0, an acronym for Subscription Agreement for Future Equity. SAFE, a financial instrument used in pre-seed and seed investments in startups, was officially launched in Milan today. 

SAFE allows founders to raise capital by postponing the startup's valuation to a more mature stage and delaying investors' entry into the startup's corporate structure until the occurrence of a subsequent round of qualified investment. 

"This is an important milestone for the Italian venture capital market. For the first time a large number of Italian law firms operating in the VC sector and a representation of investors and founders have worked together to create a model investment tool in line with the spirit of the American SAFE (created by the well-known American accelerator Y Combinator). It is an expression of a joint will to support the growth of the Italian VC ecosystem, with a view to making it increasingly attractive to foreign operators and competitive with respect to other markets and helping start-ups and investors speed up the investment process," says Withers partner Sergio Anania.

SAFE 2.0 was created at the instigation of Withers and followed a similar initiative in the UK to create a shared model among the major players in the sector. The SAFE 2.0 template will be available on the Italian Tech Alliance website and can be used for transactions that require speed, simplicity and standardisation. To formalise investments, the parties will simply need to agree on a few items (discount, cap, maturity date, maturity valuation and characteristics of the conversion round), fill in and sign the document, and then proceed to investment.

The Withers team included partner, Sergio Anania and associate, Federico Zindato.