In the landscape of Italian artificial intelligence companies, some decisions mark the boundary between those who lead innovation and those who undergo it. Aidia’s capital increase aims to represent one of these strategic choices: a concrete growth action for the Italian industrial AI market.
The international scenario of artificial intelligence applied to industry is projected towards growth estimated at around $569 billion by 2034, but what really matters is how Italian AI companies are positioning themselves to capitalize on this opportunity without falling into the secular errors of being dominated.
Aidia’s story begins in 2020, when three engineers - Riccardo Celli, Luca Angioloni, and Francesco Lombardi - decided to transform a vision into reality in the heart of Tuscany. It wasn’t the easiest time to found an artificial intelligence company, yet what seemed like a challenge turned out to be an extraordinary opportunity for the Italian tech sector.
“When we started, we knew that AI would change the way of doing business in Italy,” recounts Riccardo Celli, CEO and co-founder of the Florentine company. “What we didn’t imagine was how quickly Italian companies would understand the concrete value of artificial intelligence applied to their industrial processes.”
Today, five years later, the numbers tell a story of sustained growth in the Italian AI companies landscape: +35% annual revenue, 90% customer retention, over 50 completed artificial intelligence implementations. But behind every percentage is a story of real technological transformation.
In the Italian metalworking sector, for example, some of Aidia’s solutions have reduced production waste from 12% to 4.2%, generating an ROI of 280% in 18 months. In premium packaging, the accuracy of quality controls through artificial intelligence increased from 87% to 98.5%. These aren’t initial investment round numbers: they represent competitive potential and concrete innovation. They make us understand that in our country we can position ourselves by overcoming the inferiority complex that sometimes blocks the best entrepreneurial initiatives.
“Every AI project teaches us something new about the needs of Italian companies,” reflects Celli. “But the most important lesson always remains the same: artificial intelligence and technology in general, have value only when they solve concrete problems and generate measurable results for businesses.”
The decision to proceed with a capital increase for a growing AI company might seem counterintuitive. Yet, for Italian artificial intelligence companies, this is precisely the right time to accelerate investments.
“In the tech sector, as in others, in difficult times you raise capital to survive. When you have traction and visibility in the market, you raise funds to dominate,” explains the CEO. “The industrial artificial intelligence market is going through a phase of accelerated maturation and, I would say, almost mandatory for our country. Companies that scale now won’t win in a remote future but very soon.”
The capital increase strategy is clear: it’s not about patching up but capitalizing on a current and immediate opportunity for Italian AI companies. The NRRP allocates 27 billion euros to digitalization and innovation - the largest European tech investment in the sector. Italy maintains the fifth position worldwide for industrial automation technologies. It’s the perfect time to consolidate and expand presence in the artificial intelligence market.
The investment follows three strategic directions, each designed to strengthen competitive assets in the Italian artificial intelligence sector:
1. Continuous AI Innovation: The R&D team will double human resources in engineers specialized in artificial intelligence and machine learning. This is because it’s confirmed that for Italian AI companies, innovation represents on average 30% of revenues - a percentage higher than the European tech average that allows maintaining competitive advantage.
2. Expansion in the Italian and European AI Market: The demand for industrial artificial intelligence solutions often exceeds the response capacity of tech companies, especially Italian ones. The expansion of interdisciplinary teams will allow serving a growing number of requests without compromising the quality of implementations. The presence of project managers, consultants, and researchers in each team dedicated to a client has proven successful in finalizing every project without surprises. Including the addition of designers experienced in User Experience and User Interface.
3. AI Enterprise Infrastructure: Italian companies are growing and must continue to grow in technological complexity and dimensions. Artificial intelligence systems must evolve in parallel to support increasingly articulated and strategic enterprise implementations while avoiding, however, traumas and disruptions.
In a landscape dominated by international public cloud solutions, Aidia has made a precise choice for the Italian artificial intelligence market: maintaining total control of data in the client’s infrastructure or in secured security perimeters. It’s not just a technical matter, but a philosophy that responds to increasingly pressing security and compliance needs for Italian companies that often don’t find domestic alternatives.
“84% of Italian businesses put data security at risk using public generative AI,” observes Celli. “Our proprietary solutions also operate on-premise and it’s actually the solution most often requested. It’s structural protection that becomes competitive advantage for made in Italy artificial intelligence.”
Results confirm the validity of the approach in enterprise AI: AVA (the agentic assistant developed by Aidia) has generated productivity increases of 12% in six months and ROI of 175% in ten months for industrial clients. Not just operational efficiency, but also peace of mind for companies that choose national AI solutions.
Aidia’s growth in the Italian artificial intelligence landscape has not only been vertical, but also horizontal. In recent years, the company has built an AI ecosystem through Sphera (industrial automation), the acquisition of shares in Beyond Knowledge (business intelligence), and the joint venture Super AI Studio for advanced artificial intelligence research.
“Each entity excels in its own AI domain,” explains Celli. “Sphera in automation systems, Beyond Knowledge in intelligent data visualization, Super AI Studio in cutting-edge artificial intelligence research. Together they can offer complete solutions that few Italian tech realities can guarantee.”
It’s a strategy that amplifies value for enterprise clients, creating synergies in artificial intelligence that go beyond the sum of individual companies.
The Italian industry landscape is changing rapidly, and some sectors are leading artificial intelligence adoption:
“Italy has an extraordinary industrial heritage that must be recovered,” argues Celli. “Our task is to amplify these assets through artificial intelligence, creating value for Italian companies that goes beyond stringent operational efficiency.”
For companies now entering the artificial intelligence market, growing quickly involves specific responsibilities. Every investment in AI R&D carries the risk of developing solutions that the Italian market might not welcome. Every commercial expansion requires maintaining high quality standards even on larger volumes of AI implementations.
“Sectoral diversification is our insurance against risks,” explains Celli. “We operate in 15 different industrial sectors, reducing the concentration risk typical of startups, and this has immediately ensured us growth and evolution. Every artificial intelligence development is validated on pilot projects before complete deployment. Our track record of over 50 successful AI implementations demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach. We also have a department dedicated to market research that supports our clients too.”
Transparency remains a fundamental pillar for Aidia and should be for all Italian AI companies. Every project must be documented with clear KPIs and quantifiable ROI. The 90% customer retention testifies that AI sector companies always keep their commitments to client companies.
The objective for the next three years in the artificial intelligence market is clear: consolidate in the Italian sector and expand geographically, aiming to become the European reference for industrial artificial intelligence.
“Italy actually has unexpressed but structural competitive advantages in the industrial AI sector,” concludes Celli. “Excellence in manufacturing, consolidated engineering culture, sensitivity towards quality and precision. Artificial intelligence amplifies these historical advantages. Companies that know how to combine Italian industrial heritage and AI innovation will conquer decisive shares in the European market very soon.”
For Italian companies evaluating AI investments in 2025, the CEO’s advice is clear:
The capital increase represents much more than a simple financial operation: it’s the materialization of a growth strategy that aims to transform current success into consolidated leadership. As evidenced by the concrete results achieved so far, Italian artificial intelligence companies that adopt a strategic approach to investments are able to maximize generated value, obtaining competitive and sustainable advantages over time.
An effective financial growth system allows transforming artificial intelligence implementation from a cost to an investment with significant return. Companies that adopt a data-driven approach to strategic planning are able to fully exploit the opportunities of the Italian AI market.
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Marketing Specialist senior. Specialista in Marketing analitico strategico omnicanale - Business data analysis | Prompt engineer.b
At Aidia, we develop AI-based software solutions, NLP solutions, Big Data Analytics, and Data Science. Innovative solutions to optimize processes and streamline workflows. To learn more, contact us or send an email to info@aidia.it.
