Verona, the last frontier of the biotech business
The world is not that big, on the contrary, it can be enclosed in a handful of nanometers and explore, unite and split, create and bet inside. There are those who have tried to fit a whole life into these nanometers: they are Marta Bonaconsa, Michele Bovi and Pietro Vaccari. They are the “researchers-adventurers” who a few years ago gave life to Nanomnia, a biotech startup in the heart of Verona. Today their team has over 10 experts and has managed to weave an international business network.
«Me, Michele and Pietro are friends before being colleagues: we met on the benches of the University many years ago and we understood that we have a common vision – says Marta Bonaconsa, co-founder of Nanomnia -. As researchers, we have embarked on a path to become entrepreneurs. Our technology develops a prescription process of various compounds in a 100% sustainable way used to encapsulate agrochemicals, drugs, cosmetics and much more. These shells facilitate release, absorption and are “selectors” of the final objective: they are precious tools for agriculture. Encapsulation is a technology that has already been widespread for some time but plastics have always been used: Nanomnia is the first company that offers a totally sustainable shell».
«Two years after our foundation, the European Community intervened with a law that avoids the use of microplastics added to many market products, including crop protection products. Nanomnia has re-entered this reorganization (complacency); a decisive turning point that laid the foundations for our business and allowed us to grow up to important recognitions: today we are recognized as first player Italian and European for the encapsulation of crop protection products».
CEO Marta Bonaconsa is a molecular biologist with a PhD in Neuroscience. When she talks about her job, she smiles and often moves her hands as if, by osmosis, her passion was trying to make inroads in the listener. She is energetic and determined: «We want to go a long way and we are working well; the leap from researchers to entrepreneurs is complex, it requires study and dedication. We are exploring new industrial sectors where green nanotechnologies can bring great benefits. A leap forward possible also thanks to Intesa San Paolo».
«Nanomnia is the only reality in the whole region to be selected for the second Intesa Sanpaolo Elite Lounge dedicated to Startups. We are enthusiastic about it because it is an exclusive project to which only 21 companies throughout Italy have had access: it is a huge financial accelerator that includes entrepreneurial training, business network, applications, investments and much more. An internationally woven network that is allowing us to grow. We are grateful for this opportunity above all because it is allowing me to study: every week I go to Milan and attend lessons on how to do business. I take notes, study, meet people with cutting-edge ideas who motivate me to grow. Innovation and sustainability are the planned main training topics; in addition, we have access to integrated services and a network of international professionals and investors to facilitate access to the capital market. All in all, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
«We have just launched a capital increase of one and a half million to become a reference industrial research center in Europe. Expansion into new markets would allow us to build a large employment induced through a dense network of similar activities and integrate with ours. We want to become the new “home” of Italian biotech researchers who, too often, cannot find suitable structures: Nanomnia wants to reward, nurture and encourage the brilliant minds of our young people. All this without ever giving up on sustainability, not only environmental, in the context of microplastic-free, but also economic and social: the success of a company is always people».