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Italy, an advanced country of 60 million people, gets 20 times less startup money than Boston. My angel investing buddy Arrigo Bodda thinks there’s ample room for growth. He is working with 42N, a consultancy focused on bringing Italian startups to the US. At the junction of design and cleantech, Italy has intriguing things to offer.
Click here for full episode transcript
Highlights:
Sal Daher Introduces Arrigo Bodda, Angel Investor
Arrigo’s Startups: TireTutor, the Marketplace for Buyers of Tires
TireTutor Connects Buyers with Independent Local Suppliers
The Startup Scene in Italy Is Beginning to Develop
deesup.com, a Marketplace for Design Items
Sal’s Italian Designer Office Chair
The 42N Initiative to Mentor Italian Startups
Room to Grow: Boston & Cambridge Get 20X the Startup Funding of All Italy
“This hunger to succeed is not something that is unique to the United States.”
DynamoEnergies.com: Design Objects the Generate Solar Power
“What if your sculpture could charge your Tesla?”
42N Is Working with Cleantech Open Accelerator to Find Italian Startups
Black Soldier Fleas to Break Down Organic Waste in the Home
20 to 1 Weight Reduction for Organic Refuse
Self-Adjusting Ecosystem of Black Soldier Fleas in a Small Form Factor
42N Plans to Work with Startups and Private Companies
Acquired a Producer of Plant-Based Protein in Latvia
Becoming an Advisor as a Prelude to Investing
Transcript of, “Startup Italy”
Guest: Investor Arrigo Bodda
Sal Daher Introduces Arrigo Bodda, Angel Investor
Sal Daher: Welcome to Angel Invest Boston, conversations with Boston's most interesting angels and founders. I'm Sal Daher, an angel investor who is very curious to find out how to better build startup companies. Today, my guest is a returning guest, my friend, Arrigo Bodda.
Arrigo Bodda: Hello, Sal. Always a pleasure being in your podcast.
Sal Daher: Awesome. Arrigo Bodda, as you can tell from his name, is from Italy. He worked at multinationals in Europe and also in the US. Arrigo has worked a lot of positions of human resources. He has a lot of experience on that aspect of it, but he's also an entrepreneur, he's an angel investor. He's somebody that I really enjoy having on with me on due diligence, investing at startups. It's great you're back Arrigo. The last podcast that we recorded, I relaunched it recently. I had an occasion to listen to the whole thing and also to read the transcript. That's a very sage advice.
Arrigo Bodda: You are very kind, Sal, as usual. Again, I would love to share with you what has changed for me over the last couple of years, at least a bit less hair.
Sal Daher: [laughs] We're all in that situation.
Arrigo Bodda: [laughs] Luckily now if our listener cannot see.
Sal Daher: In my case, a little more face. That's a bigger problem.
Arrigo Bodda: Also, other things that has happened on my professional trajectory that I would like to share with you, with our listeners. Again, great pleasure to be here.
Sal Daher: Awesome. What are the startups that you're very excited about right now that you're very involved with?
Arrigo’s Startups: TireTutor, the Marketplace for Buyers of Tires
Arrigo Bodda: Well, actually in this very moment, I'm following a few startups that has presented, the app, the Walnut. One that I’m more interested in is TireTutor.
Sal Daher: TireTutor.
Arrigo Bodda: TireTutor is a marketplace, as you may remember, presented probably year and a half for us. They want to disrupt the huge market, they want to compete with the bigger guys in the industry, Tire Racks and others. They have a very, very solid team of entrepreneur. Again, one more time, you mentioned that I have an HR background, so for me, the quality of the management team, the reliability, the trustworthiness of the founding team is crucial.
Sal Daher: Yes, they impressed me as particularly mature, having worked in the industry and so forth.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, exactly. Also, again, you are fascinated by few things when you meet an entrepreneur. Then, you have the opportunity to check in the monthly report that they do, how thorough they are, how detail-oriented they are, how they keep their commitment and this thing. Again, I have to say that in this case, what I saw in the founder was confirmed over the course of the year. It's a validation of something that myself and others that invested in TireTutor.
Sal Daher: How's the traction? Do you have the traction data?
Arrigo Bodda: Okay, the traction might not be exactly where I wanted to see them, but of course, you need to consider that since these are COVID times, all the economics has changed.
Sal Daher: People driving well with their bald tires. [laughs]
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, absolutely. Well, it's a matter of fact that the miles that are run are less, the paths, I'm thinking. Despite the fact that there's been this extraordinary event for everyone, I see great passion in execution, the great consistencies there are straight to do to the line where they are, where they promise to be. I'm very confident that they will get where they want to.
Sal Daher: Arrigo, I saw them pitch at Walnut, and I was impressed by the team. Now, explain to me, because I'm a guy who has a 2004 minivan. The tires I have on there are the tires that the mechanic sold me. He says, "Your tires are bald. You need these tires," and I just got them. For me, I'm not a customer for TireTutor. I understand that there's a world of people who have these super-duper special cars that need very special tires, and they need orientation other than just like your off-brand mechanic like mine.
TireTutor Connects Buyers with Independent Local Suppliers
Arrigo Bodda: Well, so I will respectfully disagree with you. You may well be a customer because, through their platform, they will help you to find an independent, a smaller-- so the cause is linking all the independent, the one that's outside the bigger chain, I think so. There's more independent that may live in your neighbor that says, "Available tire at the price you like to pay," because what is your alternative? Your alternative could be the Costco of the world, could be the Walmart of the cost.
You can check. Let's say your small independent tire vendor is close to you. You can establish a personal relationship with this person. The price point is similar to what you would pay in more indiscreet environment. That could be a great charge for you. Building on that, another great thing that they want, they want to add services that the same tire provider can sell to you.
The moment you go there, they can sell you the tire but also, they can inspect your car and see if you have any brakes need, if you have any suspension need, if you have any muffler need. They cannot service from their side, so more revenue and also more revenue for TireTutor, but also more service for you because you will have someone that's going to take care not only of the tire but more things in your car.
Sal Daher: Yes. This is typical of kind of startup where execution is everything, because they don't have any patents, they don't have any new technology. It's just how they go about doing what they're doing, and they seem to be a very wise and mature team.
Arrigo Bodda: I totally agree with you. It's land grabbing, and from what I see recently, they have very great expansion plans. They considered that now they are pretty much on Eastern Massachusetts and some area in the Washington, DC, Pennsylvania area. They are trying to fill the gap so they are expansion in Western Massachusetts, Connecticut. I saw also projects in the New York area. Again, they go step by step in a way that I appreciate that, and I hope the success will come soon.
Sal Daher: Excellent. Any other startups that come to mind?
The Startup Scene in Italy Is Beginning to Develop
Arrigo Bodda: Oh, yes. Since we talked, well, as you know, I'm look to both sides of the pond. I try to leverage my here being the US, with me having connection in my own country. I look to both. By the way, one thing that I needed to tell that finally looks like Italy that has been forever a more moribund market for startup like, unfortunately, many of the countries in Europe, now is getting serious on that.
To make an example, before you didn't have any fiscal incentive to invest in startup. Now, they started two years ago with a 30% tax credit if you invest in what they call innovative startups, but pretty much any digital startup qualifies for that. Now, the tax discount is up to 50%. That's pretty much double the money that you put in each investment. You don't have, unfortunately, like they have for instance in UK, if I'm not wrong, the possibility to deduct losses if the startup goes belly-up.
Sal Daher: You cannot deduct it, which is something you can do in the US under certain circumstances?
deesup.com, a Marketplace for Design Items
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. You can do in the US, you can do in Europe, also in UK if I'm not wrong, you cannot do that. It's where you give the incentive. Italy decided to do upfront, so the moment you invest. Again, I help also my family to invest their monies there and so through them got in touch with a very interesting company that, I need to confess, I would like to bring here in the US when they will be ready. It's a marketplace for iconic design products. This company is very interesting, made by two relatively seasoned entrepreneurs, wife and husband by the way. Hope their relationship continues well, because that'll impact the company. [laughs]
Again, imagine a marketplace in which you have this nicer broadcasting stuff that I see in front of you and you want to get rid of that, and assume that they added some value, and they have some design value. You can post on their website, you get known. When they find a client for you, they buy you the piece and they sell. Again, the logistic is done half-and-half. You get instruction how to ship that, and you get tutorials. It's a very good business model.
Another thing that they do is they contact the design furniture company in Italy, which the country, of course as you know, is very, very rich. They buy from them what they call the shop floor items, so the one that has been in exhibitions, the ones that has been in the showrooms, the things that cannot be sold anymore as a new product. They are used product. They buy wholesale, and then they post on their website.
Very interesting. There have been in France some success cases of similar platform that's the reach exit. They are doing well. They are doing well because in the COVID time, people buy more online. We have seen an interesting increase in their order, increase in the value of their cart, because apparently, people have more time. They were able also to get outside Italy. Nowadays, receive about about 60% of their orders from, let's say, Central Europe, maybe.
Sal’s Italian Designer Office Chair
Sal Daher: Italian products. I set up an office for my company in Singapore back in '93, '94, and I bought myself an office chair back then. It was an Italian design office chair, leather office chair, and Arrigo, this is 1994. Now, what is it? 27 years later, that's still the chair I use every day.
Arrigo Bodda: [laughs] That's good.
Sal Daher: Unbelievable.
Arrigo Bodda: I'm very happy you appreciate it. I'm very fond because, again, as you probably know--
Sal Daher: I know. When I bought it, I said, "Oh, it's an Italian design. It looks beautiful, but it's probably going to last me a year, and then I have to get another one." It was expensive, but I said, "Well, I'll splurge because it looks so beautiful." It looks so great, and it's really comfortable. What is it? 26 years later, 27 years later, it's the chair I'm using every single day. And it’s still fine. [laughs] Unbelievable.
Arrigo Bodda: It's great to hear, because it's a validation of what I think. Italy has a great reputation among educated buyer like yourself for the quality of the design, the material, for everything, but also has a stigma. Unfortunate I have to say, having been a buyer for many years of Italian products, and I'm still a buyer now, a stigma about reliability, service, post-sale service, and all this kind of stuff.
That is a stigma that unfortunately is justified by having overlooked that for-- When we move from furniture to cars, is even more evident. Everyone will recognize that Ferrari are fantastic car, but then, even a fantastic car like this has flaws that sometime are something that prevents someone to buy an Italian product. Any time I advise Italian company, and now I'm doing very much so, I always advise that having a great idea and designing the most beautiful things is in our DNA, as that has come easy. What doesn't come easy is to follow through and guarantee the reliability, the flawlessness, and all this kind of stuff. This is what I see.
Sal Daher: What's the name of the company? What's the website?
Arrigo Bodda: The website is called Deesup, D-E-E-S-U-P.com. Deesup.
Sal Daher: Like Design Up, or something.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, something like this.
Sal Daher: D-E-E-S-U-P? Awesome. I'll look for items on that.
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. Now, they have a scope that is only European. They sell only European, but again, one of the reasons why I advise my family to get into that is because I would love that one day, they might be able to sell it here, because again, especially on the two coasts, maybe Chicago as well, there is a passion for pieces of design, for iconic art chair, tables, and these kinds of things. I believe that it could be a great possibility of expansion.
Sal Daher: Yes, that's tremendous. Any other startups that come to mind at the moment?
Arrigo Bodda: Well, then they have the startup that we are contacting now in our work that we do with the new thing that I would like, if you allow me a few minutes, to present to our listen.
Sal Daher: Sure.
The 42N Initiative to Mentor Italian Startups
Arrigo Bodda: This initiative is called 42N Advisors. It's a kind of a boutique consultancy firm made with the purpose of helping, to giving back to the Italian ecosystem. The 12 members are all professionals, entrepreneurs, lawyers, college professors, or corporate people, that in a way or another left their country, came to the US, made a career, made success, and now they want to help as an entrepreneur as a professional eager to be quite successful. How? Linking them to the US ecosystem.
Sal Daher: It sounds to me a lot like what angels do, which is they invest a little money, but they also connect with people, they give them advice, they offer a shoulder to cry on, sounding board, and so forth.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, exactly. It's exactly like this, and again, being yourself a much more experienced angel as I am, you know very much that our environment sometimes is a bit geographically challenged. We like to invest in a drivable distance. Anytime we see some something west of Connecticut, we say, "Eh, it's more than two hours."
[laughter]
Arrigo Bodda: Not sure [crosstalk].
Sal Daher: You mean it's way out there in Springfield?
[laughter]
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly.
Sal Daher: Springfield is a city in Western Massachusetts.
Arrigo Bodda: Oh, yes. I know very well.
Sal Daher: Just in case the listeners-- Let's say a listener in California [unintelligible 00:16:38] Springfield in Springfield. Springfield [unintelligible 00:16:40] Springfield, Massachusetts.
Room to Grow: Boston & Cambridge Get 20X the Startup Funding of All Italy
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. Being aware of that, our challenge is exactly this, to pick up these companies that are sitting somewhere in Rome, in Milan, or wherever, which great idea, great team, well-educated, they don't have any connection here in the US. They have developed their idea there. They are struggling to get the interest, because as I mentioned to you, I just post, and if you go on my-- I believe it was on LinkedIn. On my LinkedIn FACE, I stated that the Cambridge-Boston volume of investment in innovative company that has been evaluated for the year around at 10.4 billion- I don't know if that is the number that sounds well for you, is 20 times the entire investment in Italy. 20 times. Only a region on the US is 20 times Boston-Cambridge.
Sal Daher: Not the biggest region either.
Arrigo Bodda: No, exactly, because Silicon Valley will be 40 times, probably. When you see this kind of thing, it came to our mind that there are a lot of idea there that they don't have capital to be funded with, and here, there is a lot of money that might not find the right number or startup to invest in.
Sal Daher: More importantly, might not find the highly motivated entrepreneur.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, exactly.
“This hunger to succeed is not something that is unique to the United States.”
Sal Daher: This hunger to succeed is not something that is unique to the United States. In a country like Italy, you might find someone who can overcome hurdles, because the hurdles are so high. If you [laughs] managed to [unintelligible 00:18:26]--
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, because we grew up overcoming. [chuckles]
Sal Daher: A super hurdler.
Arrigo Bodda: You're absolutely right.
Sal Daher: Superman was from a planet with very high gravity, very strong gravity. On Earth, he is able to make enormous-- to fly. Well, you're kind of like a Superman or Superwoman as an entrepreneur.
Arrigo Bodda: Very well said.
Sal Daher: Do you have any interesting companies from that group that you'd like to talk about?
Arrigo Bodda: Yes. Again, you always ended up in the field where you have a passion. As I say, I have a passion for design.
Sal Daher: [laughs] It was in our first interview, you’re a frustrated architect.
DynamoEnergies.com: Design Objects the Generate Solar Power
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. This company is called Dynamo Energies. It actually has a double nature. It's Swiss and Italian but is incorporated in Lugano that is an Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, so we consider an Italian company.
Sal Daher: They have good taste and show up on time.
[laughter]
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. Probably, they have also a bit of money.
Sal Daher: To traffic in national stereotypes. [laughs]
Arrigo Bodda: That's correct. This guy, they took a commodity that's a solar panel. That is a commodity, and it's, I would say, bi-dimensional, flat. They design an accumulator that is three-dimensional.
Sal Daher: What is the accumulator?
Arrigo Bodda: It will be the solar panel that's instead of being in two dimensions is in three dimensions. It's a cube, it's a block.
Sal Daher: It's a cube, it's a block.
Arrigo Bodda: It's something. Please don't ask me how they sold this thing, but the fact that they can, a relatively small base can compact a good accumulating capacity, right?
Sal Daher: Right.
Arrigo Bodda: The good thing that they did is that they did this from an engineering perspective, so they designed it. They designed something that is patented, and they were smart enough to patent all over the world. They combined that with a great design.
Sal Daher: What is it called?
Arrigo Bodda: Is called dynamoenergies.com. If you see, they have a fantastic design. Then immediately, when I talked to them, I was immediately thinking to the US. Now, it's different, but the US relatively-- From a urbanistic perspective is a new wolrd. It's not like France that they have a village in town and square that they were built 500 years ago. Here, most of the things has been built in the last century, in the last two centuries. In Boston, for instance, and I have worked there recently, we have a newly created port like Seaport. That's our great place, a great building, but from a urbanistic standpoint are a bit poor. They are not square, people complain that there is not much to see.
Sal Daher: I just took a look at the website, dynamoenergies.com. What it is are these objects that are very attractive, but they look like an obelisk or like a massive cube, and they generate electricity. They capture sunlight, and beautifully designed. Please continue. I just wanted to [crosstalk]
Arrigo Bodda: No. Thank you. Again, immediately when I saw that, their rendering is about probably European towns and state but immediately associated in places like Seaport that we benefit tremendously by having a number of these installations, because it will be like putting sculpture in the urban environment that need some landmarks, that need something to look. Also, of course, it's not only accumulating energy, but also, they are thinking about recharging for electrical vehicle. They are thinking about communication, recording data, and all this kind of thing.
“What if your sculpture could charge your Tesla?”
Sal Daher: What if your sculpture could charge your Tesla?
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, exactly.
Sal Daher: [laughs] What if your abstract polygonal structure could charge your Tesla?
Arrigo Bodda: Correct. This is one of the companies that we are connecting now, because I believe that with the right introduction in the US, they could get a tremendously higher traction that they can develop in Italy where, by the way, they have already proved that they can be successful because they have products, they have clients in them. Now, they need to make the step-up. The mission of 42N and myself is to help them to do this step. By the way, I expected you to tell me what does it mean 42N. What do you know? You don't know?
Sal Daher: [laughs] Is it 42 north? 42.7 [42.3] North which is the longitude of Boston?
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly, but it's not only the longitude of Boston, it's the one of Rome as well.
Sal Daher: Oh, Rome? Oh, yes. You see, this is remarkable. Yet, the climate of Rome and the climate of Boston are so different. [laughs]
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. We made a lot of fun about that, because you would imagine that, again, it's same latitude, same at that, but it's not like this. [laughs]
Sal Daher: It's very funny. You think that latitude determines everything. There are so many other factors.
Arrigo Bodda: Correct.
Sal Daher: London's latitude is 51.5 North. They're almost 10 degrees North of us and yet, the climate in London is much, much less cold than it is here in the wintertime. It all has to do with the Gulf Stream that pushed off into the sea by Cape Cod, which is a few hundred miles from here is this warm water, but we have this cold bath that we live in during the winter time, and that Gulf Stream goes and warms the British Isles and keeps them warm. I was always wondering, you watch these British shows and they are doing things in a summer evening and its sunlight well into very late, and then I realized why. They're at 51.5 North. It's a little bit like Scandinavia.
Arrigo Bodda: Awesome, is it.
Sal Daher: Then Rome, Rome, of course, is in the middle of the Mediterranean, and I'm sure you know the warm currents and so forth.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes.
Sal Daher: [chuckles] So amazing.
Arrigo Bodda: It is true. Again, I live that because I'm from the north, so I didn't benefit off the nice weather of Rome and Naples, and things. Where I grew up in Turin and Milano, it was pretty much Boston weather, a bit milder but not too much, with snow in the winter at times though.
Sal Daher: Right. Boston has miserable weather, because when it gets really cold, it gets really cold. When it gets hot, it gets really unpleasant and muggy. It's nice here just a few days of the year.
Arrigo Bodda: It is.
Sal Daher: Any other interesting Italian startups that you are attempting to transplant?
42N Is Working with Cleantech Open Accelerator to Find Italian Startups
Arrigo Bodda: Well, the one I talk this morning. By the way, one of the first assignment we got with 42N is an incubator that you may know. It's called a Cleantech Open.
Sal Daher: Okay.
Arrigo Bodda: It's considered the most important incubator in green tech. They are pretty much based in California, but they have a huge connection here in the Boston area and Cambridge. They do an acceleration program for three months that now is fully remote starting in June, end of June, and will last till October. We got connected with them, and they asked us to provide possibly 10 candidates for this program out of the Italian ecosystem.
At this point, we are scouting the Italian green tech companies to see which of them will be interested in participating in this acceleration program. Again, as you see, we got an opportunity. It is a great platform for people willing to get exposed to invest or mentor alumni of Cleantech Open. It's fantastic opportunity that we want to offer to companies in Italy that are just willing to connect with them for three years. These are the win-win opportunities.
Sal Daher: What does this particular Cleantech company do?
Black Soldier Fleas to Break Down Organic Waste in the Home
Arrigo Bodda: That is very interesting. We are talking about recycling. As you probably know, one of the most challenging recyclable items is the organic one. I'm a fanatic recycler. I lived in Switzerland for four years. There, you need to be a recycler or your neighbor will call the police because you have--
[laughter]
Sal Daher: You mean composting? Composting of--
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, correct. Compost. In there, they have all the container. Everything is well taken care for them. When you sit by, it is fantastic, but in many other parts of the world, it's not like this. In the US, for example, within Milton, there is no collection of organic waste and so they ended up in the drain, if you can, or in the standard landfill garbage. I try many times myself in my yard that to compost by myself, adding leaves there, adding some products. Unsuccessful. The smell, didn't work and you ended up with a lot of problems, and then we gave up. This guy what they are doing? They have a patented device that can come in several dimensions. It could be as small as your-- I don't know if you have in your kitchen, the garbage compactor? You know?
Sal Daher: No.
Arrigo Bodda: Okay.
Sal Daher: I know what they look like. Yes, a lot of people have that.
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. They are small. They are a small thing. Imagine a cube 2 feet x 3 feet x 3 feet. Something like this, even less, or larger that you can either use in your yard, or municipalities, they can use to put in public places. What it is inside? This is a funny think. Inside, they are what they call black soldier fleas.
[laughter]
Sal Daher: There's a population of fleas inside it?
Arrigo Bodda: Correct.
Sal Daher: Oh, wow.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes. These fleas, for some reason, are attracted by organic products. To make a long story short, you put 20 pounds of organic stuff there and the end results after these black fleas--
Sal Daher: Fleas, the little jumping things that like to go on dogs?
Arrigo Bodda: Correct.
Sal Daher: Except these don't go on dogs, I hope.
[laughter]
20 to 1 Weight Reduction for Organic Refuse
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. These black soldier fleas, they digest this product and they produce 1 pound, 20 to 1, of inert components that can either put in the organic disposal if the town has, or it can dispose in the landfill, but it's organic, and it's 1 to 20.
Sal Daher: 1 to 20, so for every 20 pounds of organic refuse, let's say your banana peels and your apple cores and all that stuff, you put it in there, and then it'll come out of the other side as 1 pound of stuff that you can-- Can you use it as compost in your yard to improve--
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, because it's not a living like-- The compost that we produce is not a living thing, it's inert. I don't believe it has great nutritional value for your yard, but the good thing is the reduction.
Sal Daher: It reduces the volume? What does it reduce?
Arrigo Bodda: The weight.
Sal Daher: The weight?
Arrigo Bodda: Yes.
Sal Daher: What happened to the fleas? They just grow?
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. The interesting thing-- because that was my question. I said, "Hey, wait a second. Before putting your device in my home, I need to be sure that it's a hermetic kind of thing. I don't want to have fleas around the house." Exactly. The beauty of this, that it creates a self-contained ecosystem in which the fleas, they grow from larva, the baby of the fleas, I don't know the--
Sal Daher: I guess it's larva.
Self-Adjusting Ecosystem of Black Soldier Fleas in a Small Form Factor
Arrigo Bodda: Larva, yes. They become fleas, and then they regenerate. Apparently, there is no need to repopulate or add or remove. It's a self-adjusting mechanism, and even if you go on vacation- I asked what happen if I go a couple of months somewhere, the system go in a sort of-
Sal Daher: Stasis?
Arrigo Bodda: -lethargy. Yes, they sleep. They sleep until you come back. Amazing.
Sal Daher: Basically, it's kind of like an environmentally-friendly waste disposal mechanism if you don't want to compost at home.
Arrigo Bodda: Very much.
Sal Daher: This is really, really excellent.
Arrigo Bodda: This is also another thing that's linked me to another place that is close to my heart. Of course, as you may know, that is Asia because my wife is from Thailand, and there, insects-- For other westerners, insect is pretty much a boring thing and that annoy you in the middle of the night when you need to chase them in your bedroom, right?
Sal Daher: Right.
Arrigo Bodda: There, insect have a totally different consideration. One of the things, that are a source of proteins, and it's unbelievable now the interest that they have in Asia for growing insect. We are watching a lot of clips on YouTube on these, because the farming of insect is becoming a big thing. Now, even in the startup world, they noticed that, so there is a lot of movement on this kind of thing. I cannot tell much on these because I just started to learn that, but the use of insect, not only as waste management allies like in this case, but also on the food chain.
Sal Daher: Part of the food chain, yes.
Arrigo Bodda: Oh, yes, absolutely. It's a very interesting thing, so get ready, Sal. I don't know.
[laughter]
Sal Daher: We're going to be eating insects here?
Arrigo Bodda: My wife does that already.
42N Plans to Work with Startups and Private Companies
Sal Daher: All right. Well, it's very interesting. By the way, one thing I was thinking, how does it work with 42N? Do you have a standard advisory agreement with the firm?
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, pretty much, the company, Sal, has been incorporated two months ago. We are at the very, very, very beginning. Our business model is pretty much to follow benefit corporation. We don't want to profit in any way from this. All the profit that will be generated by the company are going to be reinvested in the company, because we pretty much can help the two different populations. One population is the startupper. They are at the beginning of their life and so cashless. We work for them at a nominal fee but that pretty much is a pure mentorship. We help them. We will bring here if it's possible but it's no cost for them.
Where we will get our money that we will use to fund these kinds of enterprises will be from more established. It's the scale-ups or the small and medium enterprises that for some reason, they want to approach the investor market here in the US because there is a generational change. They wanted to find partners or they want to be acquired. We are going to look to this specific company up to probably €40-50 million of revenues that may have a desire to find a partner on this side of the ocean and get invested or get acquired. This is what we do.
Sal Daher: Private companies that are too small for Warren Buffett-
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, [laughs] exactly.
Sal Daher: -but perhaps interesting for another investor group that might be wanting to run a company of that kind.
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. The good thing, Sal, being 12 people. Now that we are getting a bit known, there are more people that are asking to join. We are pretty much in Boston, and this is the guy that sold the company to Google, worked in Facebook, and now, he's in Amazon. He's making all the three factors there in our only-West Coast members. More people are getting interested. This is what we do.
Sal Daher: This is pointing in the direction of private equity, which I'm sure is under-developed in Italy, not as developed as it is here. There's a ready industry in the US to buy private companies of that type, of that scale. Perhaps it might be valuable to create connections for US private equity funds with these interesting companies and also be able to add some management skills and some human resources and so forth. It's very promising.
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely.
Sal Daher: Anyway, Arrigo, let's think about closing thoughts through the podcast. What are ideas you want to leave our listeners with?
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. I have one, because this is something that we didn't have time to talk and so maybe I get an invitation for a third-- [laughs]
Sal Daher: Oh.
Acquired a Producer of Plant-Based Protein in Latvia
Arrigo Bodda: One of the things that keep me busy very much in this moment that started actually in August last year is an entrepreneurial adventure that's with friends. We are making in-- Guess where? In Latvia that is a small country on the other side of the pond in the Baltic republics. Using the sustainability field is pretty much about producing vegetable proteins from green peas and yellow peas. These are pretty much the ingredients that all the major food manufacturers-- that now, they are desperately scrambling to get into this meat substitute.
Sal Daher: Oh, I can't believe it's not meat or whatever it's called. Miracle bean.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes. Impossible, Beyond Meat, but then you have the Nestlé of the world, you have the Kraft of the world, the Mondelez of that world, you have the Unilever of the world that are scrambling for that. They need the proteins not from meat. They need proteins from vegetable sources. We are acquiring, and we are very close to do that, companies there. I don't consider myself a founder because the idea is of a friend of mine, but I helped him from the very beginning. The message I want to say, that is angel investing is a great thing, because allows you to see the life of a startup and learn from them, from their voices, from the interactions and things. Then when you are ready to make the step, you have learned a lot. I don't want to tap on my shoulder, but I was able to help the team of friends, as they're on the ground, to close acquisition for all the experiences. Thanks to people like yourself, all the colleague of Walnut that they taught me how to be a possibly smart angel investor. Everything I learn, I'm applying there, the entrepreneurial side. It's a great story. Again, I'm very proud of what I've done so far for them. Again, I have a debt with all the people that's taught me how to be a good angel.
Sal Daher: What is the name of this company?
Arrigo Bodda: This company has a technical name is IRL. Technically speaking, it probably is a SPAC.
Sal Daher: Okay, so it's a special purpose acquisition company?
Becoming an Advisor as a Prelude to Investing
Arrigo Bodda: Exactly. We collected money to acquire an existing company, and we are in negotiation with the owner now to acquire the company, get to this platform, and then to move in the direction of vegetable proteins. Organic, sustainable, it's a very, very interesting project. The advice: do angel investing even if you don't have entrepreneurial aspiration, because the day that this entrepreneurial aspiration will kick in, then you will be much more prepared. That's if you have that angel investment experience.
Sal Daher: Excellent. Well, Arrigo Bodda, I'm very grateful for you for coming back on the podcast and sharing with us the things that you're doing. I really am impressed with that Dynamo Energies, with those things. I'm just imagining how I could put one of those in my small yard in Cambridge.
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. You don't how know much important your feedback, and I will tell you immediately to the founder, that's what you say. Again, it's a validation of something that, myself, I see.
Sal Daher: Interesting objects. I've seen at Walnut there was a startup that had these very interesting tiles, the photovoltaic roof tiles that were very attractive, but they were just roof tiles that are attractive. They were not a sculptural 3D object with this remarkable Italian design. Really tremendous. Arrigo, once again, thanks a lot.
Arrigo Bodda: Thank you, Sal.
Sal Daher: It's great to catch up with you. Stay well.
Arrigo Bodda: Absolutely. I hope to see you in person soon.
Sal Daher: I hope we go back to those meetings. Yes, these are online meetings are too abstract for my taste.
Arrigo Bodda: Yes, totally agree. [laughs]
Sal Daher: Anyway.
Arrigo Bodda: Thank you, Sal. [unintelligible 00:42:58] Good luck for Boston investing.
Sal Daher: Thanks a lot.
Arrigo Bodda: Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Sal Daher: This is Angel Invest Boston. I'm Sal Daher.
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Sal Daher: I'm glad you were able to join us. Our engineer is Raul Rosa. Our theme was composed by John McKusick. Our graphic design is by Katharine Woodman-Maynard. Our host is coached by Grace Daher.