Investor Profile: Panakès Partners — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Getting Panakès Partners funding right means understanding one of Europe's most focused specialist investors. Panakès Partners is a Milan-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Fabrizio Landi, Alessio Beverina and Diana Saraceni, with an ultimate goal of giving people a better life through medical innovation. It backs ambitious early-stage start-ups and SMEs with innovative products globally, mainly across Europe. For founders building in life sciences, learning how to get funding from Panakès Partners starts with one question: does your technology answer a real, unmet medical need?

Thesis

Panakès invests for people: it backs companies whose technologies improve or solve health conditions, aiming to reshape the medical world while creating value for investors and society. The firm describes itself as an active, well-connected investor, bringing entrepreneurial and financial expertise plus a wide network of clinicians and industry experts to portfolio companies. It is a UNPRI signatory and a founding member of the Italian Tech Alliance.

Sectors & stage

The firm invests across life sciences — medtech, biotech, diagnostics and digital health — from early development through all stages of growth. Its portfolio areas span oncology, cardiovascular (tricuspid and mitral therapy, closure devices), neurology (neuromodulation for tinnitus and migraine), dermatology, ophthalmology, in-vitro and in-vivo diagnostics, and regenerative medicine. It invests mainly across Europe, with an emphasis on Italy, which its own announcements describe as underserved by venture capital funding.

Fund size & cheque size

Panakès manages approximately €300 million. Its first vehicle, the Panakes Fund, raised over €80 million in 2016 for medtech and backed 12 companies. Its second vehicle, the Purple Fund, closed at €175 million in February 2023 — the largest Italian venture capital fund dedicated to the life sciences sector. In October 2026 it launched an additional €8.5 million parallel vehicle with the Lombardy region for Lombardy-based medtech and biotech, and in July 2026 announced the first close of a new fund for therapeutics startups in Lazio. Cheque sizes are not published on the firm's site; expect an institutional early-stage ticket, not angel scale.

Notable portfolio

Recent firm news highlights Alesi Surgical, which raised £7 million for next-generation surgical smoke management technology, and E2 (Endovascular Engineering), which raised an $80 million Series C for its thrombectomy platform. The first fund's 12 portfolio companies have brought five medical products to market, with ten more in active clinical trials.

Partners

The three founders — Fabrizio Landi, Alessio Beverina and Diana Saraceni — are Managing Partners, joined by partners Barbara Castellano and Rob Woodman, Scientific Partner Marco Sardina, and a team of principals, investment managers and analysts, backed by advisors from leading life-sciences companies and research institutions.

Programs & perks

Panakès runs no accelerator-style programme; its real perk is embedded clinical access — established relationships with selected industrial partners, a clinician and industry-expert network, and hands-on business support beyond capital.

How to get funding from Panakès Partners

There is no public application portal. Founders reach the team at [email protected], the contact published on the firm's site. Warm introductions through the Italian or European life-sciences ecosystem — clinicians, portfolio founders, or co-investors such as the European Investment Fund — travel furthest. Come with evidence of a real medical need, clinical or pre-clinical data, and a clear regulatory path.