Funding for women entrepreneurs in Italy: what’s open in 2026

At the end of 2025 Italy had 1,302,974 businesses led by women, 22.3% of the total, by Unioncamere’s count. Lombardy alone had 181,469. Plenty of their founders ask the same first question: has the Fondo Impresa Femminile reopened? On 9 October 2026, no.

This guide covers public funding for women entrepreneurs in Italy as it stands today, measure by measure. What’s open and what’s closed. What’s a grant and what’s really a loan, and what each asks of your cap table. Then the EU calls, the regions, a status table and a checklist. Just starting out? Begin with our beginner’s map, from zero to a first round.

Is the Fondo Impresa Femminile open in 2026?

No. The fund was set up by the 2021 budget law, then topped up with PNRR money, and took applications online in spring 2022. The ministry (MIMIT) closed the window for new businesses from 20 May 2022 and for businesses at least 12 months old from 8 June 2022, because the money had run out. MIMIT’s page, last updated on 12 March 2025, still says it’s closed. Invitalia lists it as ‘Chiuso’. The two latest notices on its page, from November and December 2025, deal only with projects already funded: deadlines and a new platform.

In case it returns, here’s what it paid for. Investments in industry, crafts, farm-product processing, services, trade and tourism, finished within 24 months. A new firm with a project up to €100,000 could get up to 80% as a grant (money you never repay), 90% for unemployed women, capped at €50,000. Firms older than 12 months got a mix of grant and zero-interest loan on projects up to €400,000. The total budget came to about €298.8 million.

Its definition of a women-led business is worth knowing, because regional calls such as Lazio’s use the same thresholds. Cooperatives and partnerships counted with at least 60% women members; companies when women held at least two-thirds of the shares and of the board seats. Sole traders with a woman owner and self-employed women with a VAT number qualified too. Will it reopen? There’s no date. Any reopening would come with a notice from MIMIT and Invitalia, so check their pages rather than social posts.

Funding for women entrepreneurs in Italy that’s open now

ON: a zero-interest loan for majority-women companies

ON (Nuove imprese a tasso zero) is run by Invitalia, the national development agency, and its main test is who owns the company. More than half of the members, and more than half of the shares, must belong to women of any age or to people aged 18 to 35. The company can be up to 60 months old, or still to be set up. Production, services, trade and tourism all qualify, anywhere in Italy, with projects up to €3 million.

Then the change that matters. On 30 June 2026 Invitalia announced that the grant money had run out, so applications filed from 1 July get only the zero-interest loan, repaid over ten years, with total aid capped at 90% of eligible costs. It’s still cheap money. But it’s debt, and your cash plan has to show the repayments.

Smart&Start Italia: 90% instead of 80%

Smart&Start Italia is for innovative startups, young companies listed in a special section of the business register for their technology content, registered up to 60 months earlier, with a plan between €100,000 and €1.5 million. It lends 80% of eligible costs at zero interest. If the team is made up entirely of women and/or people under 36, or includes a PhD holder working abroad, it lends 90%. Files are examined within 60 days, in order of arrival.

The catch is the word ‘entirely’. Picture three co-founders: two women, 41 and 44, and a man who’s 29. All three count (the women because they’re women, him because he’s under 36), so the team gets the 90%. Swap the man for a 50-year-old and you’re back to 80%. Women are still a minority in Italy’s startup register: on 1 October 2025 only 13.45% of innovative startups had a female majority, against 19.36% of new companies overall. Our Smart&Start guide for 2026 lists the eligible costs.

SIMEST: a grant share for women-owned exporters

Selling abroad, or about to? SIMEST, part of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti group, lends to Italian companies from its Fondo 394/81. In its market-entry loan, Inserimento mercati esteri, up to 10% of the loan (maximum €100,000) can be a grant if the company is an SME at least 60% women-owned; for a company with share capital, women must hold at least 60% of the shares. That’s one of ten qualifying criteria, and one is enough. The grant counts towards your de minimis ceiling, the EU cap on small state aid per company.

The other loan lines are in our SIMEST financing guide. If Germany is your first market, we’ve also covered how an Italian company enters the German market, from distributors to the GmbH.

Bank credit and the Fondo di Garanzia

The state’s Fondo di Garanzia per le PMI backs bank loans rather than handing out money: up to 80% of the loan for investments. MIMIT’s page, updated on 21 September 2026, still lists a special section for women-led businesses but gives no current terms for it. Ask your bank or confidi whether it’s running before you count on it. Here’s how Italy’s SME guarantee fund works.

Women TechEU and the EU prize: European money for women founders

Women TechEU is the EU’s own scheme for women-led deep tech. Each startup selected gets a €75,000 grant, no equity taken, plus six months of business coaching. In June 2026 the European Innovation Council announced another €12 million for 160 startups. Since 2021 it has backed 344 women-led companies.

The bar is precise. You need a woman in a top seat (CEO, CTO, CSO or something equivalent), and women must own 25% of the shares or more. The company should be at least six months old and no older than five years. Its technology sits between TRL 4 and TRL 6 on the EU’s readiness scale, so not yet a high-fidelity MVP, and you can’t have raised €1 million or more in equity. There’s an eligibility cut-off every Tuesday at 17:00 Brussels time. Full proposals are due next on 14 January 2027.

Further along? Then the European Prize for Women Innovators 2027 is worth a look, and you have until 17:00 CET on 1 December 2026. The winner gets €100,000; second and third place get €70,000 and €50,000. Under 35? There’s a separate Rising Innovators category, paying €50,000, €30,000 and €20,000. It’s a personal prize: you enter yourself, as founder or co-founder, and the company must have been registered before 1 January 2025. For bigger sums, see how the EIC Accelerator’s grant plus equity works.

Regional calls for women-led businesses: Lombardy and the rest

Some regions run their own calls, and in 2026 the windows were short. Lazio’s Donne e Impresa 2026 offered grants of up to €100,000 per company from a €3 million pot and closed on 10 June 2026. Veneto had €3 million too, and it paid 30% of any project costing €20,000 to €170,000. You had two weeks to apply, from 12 to 26 May 2026. Both are shut now, so bookmark the same pages for next spring.

In Lombardy we found no women-only call open on 9 October. The region’s €15.6 million call for the technological development of innovative startups does reward women founders, modestly: 2 bonus points when women or under-35s directly hold at least 20% of the shares. Don’t lean on them too much, though. All the bonus points together stop at 4, and none of them count towards the 65 you need to pass. If you get through, the region pays 80% of eligible costs, up to €1 million (€1.5 million in assisted areas). Applications close on 25 November 2026 at 15:00. Our Lombardy startup grant guide covers the scoring.

Status of each measure on 9 October 2026

Measure	For whom	What you get	Status on 9 Oct 2026
Fondo Impresa Femminile (MIMIT, Invitalia)	Women-led businesses, new or existing	Grants and zero-interest loans (2022 rules)	Closed since 2022, no reopening notice
ON, Nuove imprese a tasso zero	Firms up to 60 months old, more than half of members and shares held by women or 18 to 35s	Zero-interest loan over 10 years, aid up to 90% of costs, projects up to €3M	Open, loan only since 1 July 2026
Smart&Start Italia	Innovative startups up to 60 months old	Zero-interest loan for 80% of costs, 90% for all-women and/or under-36 teams	Open, rolling
SIMEST, Inserimento mercati esteri	SMEs at least 60% owned by women (one of ten criteria)	Up to 10% of the loan as a grant, max €100,000	Available; rules updated 15 Sep 2026
Fondo di Garanzia, women’s section	Women-led SMEs	Guarantee on bank loans	Listed by MIMIT, no current terms published
Women TechEU	Deep tech startups with a woman CEO, CTO or CSO and at least 25% women shareholding	€75,000 grant plus coaching	Open; next full proposal 14 Jan 2027
European Prize for Women Innovators 2027	Women founders of companies registered before 2025	Prizes up to €100,000	Open until 1 Dec 2026, 17:00 CET
Lombardy, innovative startups call	Small innovative startups operating in Lombardy	80% grant up to €1M, plus 2 points with at least 20% women or under-35 shares	Open until 25 Nov 2026, 15:00
Lazio Donne e Impresa 2026; Veneto imprenditoria femminile 2026	Women-led SMEs in those regions	Lazio: grants up to €100,000; Veneto: 30% of the project	Closed (10 June and 26 May 2026)

How to prepare an application that holds up

Start with the cap table, not the form. Each measure counts women differently: more than half of members and shares for ON, every member a woman or under 36 for Smart&Start’s 90%, 60% for SIMEST, 25% plus a top role for Women TechEU, 20% for Lombardy’s bonus. Write your own percentages down as they’ll stand on the day you file.

Then the money. Most of what’s open is a loan, so the assessor’s question is blunt: can this company repay it, month after month, for up to ten years? Put a supplier quote behind every cost and a month next to every payment. Under 35? We keep a list of grants for young entrepreneurs in Italy, and several of them are open to men and women alike. The wider picture is in our round-up of startup grants open this autumn.

Going the Smart&Start or SIMEST route? Our handbook on SIMEST and Smart&Start was written for that. It’s €89 for a PDF plus an Excel file, in Italian and English, and it walks you through who qualifies, what each one funds, the documents and the steps, then the mistakes that sink applications.

Checklist before you apply

1. Open the official page on the day you file. ON lost its grant share with a notice dated 30 June.
2. Work out the women’s share of members, shares and board seats, measure by measure.
3. Count the company’s age in months at the filing date: 60 is the limit for ON and Smart&Start.
4. For a loan, add the repayment schedule to your cash plan, with a bad-year version.
5. Set up portal access early: Invitalia’s personal area, Lombardy’s Bandi e Servizi, the SIMEST portal.
6. Deep tech? Get the Women TechEU eligibility check done this year, ahead of the 14 January 2027 deadline.
7. Pages change. Save each one you rely on as a PDF with the date in its name.

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Calls and rules change, sometimes overnight: check the official call or ask a professional before you apply.