Cross-border expansion
Every Italian venture round above €20 million in 2025 had a foreign investor. Be ready for one.
Is your company going from Italy to the US, Europe, Latin America or the Gulf? Or coming here from one of them? First I check where it is registered and where it pays tax. Then I look at the incentives that apply and what investors will ask for. You get the steps in order, each with a date.
Diagnostic in 10 working daysEnglish, Italian or PortugueseNDA on request
Four routes, each running both ways. One structure has to work on all of them.
Where you are
Three advisors, three answers. Nobody drew the whole map.
Maybe you’re an Italian company with a first customer in New York, or a team in São Paulo that wants a base in Milan. A lawyer, an accountant and a trade agency each answered their own question.
An investor asks something else. Where does the company sit? Who can invest in it? The two answers have to match. They only match if the steps came in the right order.
Four open questions. Each changes the other three.
What the rules say
The entity isn’t paperwork. It shapes who invests in you.
Italy rewards one kind of company
Individuals get a 65% IRPEF tax break on up to €100,000 a year invested in an innovative startup, held for three years. The status needs a base in Italy, or in the EU or EEA with a production site here.
The US rewards another
A US investor who holds qualifying C corporation stock for five years can exclude the gain from federal tax, up to the greater of $15 million or ten times basis.
The tax office has its own
A company is Italian for tax if, for most of the year, its legal seat, effective management or main day-to-day management is in Italy. One is enough. Settle it before the foreign parent exists.
The real price
What choosing late really costs you.
Your window in Latin America
SIMEST’s market-entry loan normally needs collateral. For projects in Central or South America filed by 31 December 2026, it doesn’t. A plan takes weeks. The date is fixed.
Your timing
Flipping to a Delaware parent can take a few weeks. It works best right before the raise that needs it, or during it. Start the question late and the round waits.
Your investor pool
Growth Capital and Italian Tech Alliance put international participation in Italian venture capital at 46% in 2025, up from 24% in 2020. Foreign investors bring their own rules.
Where you want to be
Now picture the first call abroad.
The fund in New York doesn’t open with “where is the company?” You answered that in the first email, on one page. The call is about your pipeline, your pricing, your timing.
You spend the hour on the business, not on defending the structure. The same goes for a distributor in São Paulo: the paperwork is in order, so the talk is about work.
What you receive
The structure, on one page.
Every plan opens with a one-page summary like this one. The company below is fictional.
Market-entry plan · Verano Labs, Italy to the US
The structure, on one page
- Company. Verano Labs S.r.l., Milan. €1.2 million average revenue, first US customer in March, $3 million seed planned.
- Structure. Keep the S.r.l. for now. Decide on a Delaware parent before a US lead sends a term sheet.
- Tax. Founders run the company from Milan, so a foreign parent could still be Italian tax resident. Document where decisions are taken.
- Public money. SIMEST market-entry loan: up to 35% of average revenue, so €420,000 at most, over 8 years for US projects.
- Round. Median software seed on Carta: $4.1 million raised, 18% dilution. Verano asks for less, so the model must show what it buys.
The plan names the trigger for the Delaware move, a US term sheet, and what to finish before it arrives.
Three dates run the plan: the SIMEST filing, the structure decision and the first investor call. The rest is scheduled back from them.
Example lines from the same fictional plan.
Three levels
Choose the depth your move needs.
Starter
The diagnostic
10 working days · 1 revision
Written answers to the first questions: which entity, which market, in which order. One page for your lawyer and accountant.
- One-page structure summary
- Entity and tax-residence flags
- Questions for your advisors
Standard
The entry plan
4 to 6 weeks · 2 revisions
Everything in the diagnostic, then the plan market by market: entity route, public support, investor expectations.
- Everything in The diagnostic
- Incentives and funding map
- Dated 90-day list and two working calls
Advanced
Ongoing support
3 months · renewable
For companies already moving: I stay on through the entity set-up, the first contracts and the first round abroad.
- Fortnightly working call
- Business read of each contract
- Coordination with your advisors
A fixed fee for each level, confirmed in writing before anything starts. Every diagnostic ends with one page: the entity, the first market and the three dates that matter.
How it works
Four steps, and the order is the point.
Describe your situation
Start with the company and its markets. Then the customers, the investors and any deadlines. A short form works, or a call.
Get a written scope
Level, fee and delivery date within one working day, before any work starts.
The work
I take your first market one question at a time: entity, tax, incentives, then what investors expect.
Delivery
You get the one-page summary, the plan and a dated action list. Your lawyer and accountant can start from them.
Why Adaxit
One person holds the whole map.
Adaxit prepares startups and SMEs for capital and for growth across borders. From Milan, we work between Italy, Europe, the US, Latin America and the Gulf.
Done personally
Every diagnostic and plan is written by Cassio Thiengo, Adaxit’s founder. No juniors and no templates.
Capital and structure together
Where you incorporate changes who can invest and which incentives apply. We plan both together.
Both directions
Italian companies going abroad, foreign teams setting up here. In MIMIT’s February 2026 report, the share of foreign-run startups in Italy grew from 3.7% to 4.3%.
Beside your advisors
We don’t replace your lawyer or accountant. We tell you what to ask, and in which order.
Honest fit
Is it for you?
It’s for you if
- You’re an Italian company planning a first serious move abroad.
- You’re a foreign company or founder planning a base in Italy.
- You want steps and dates, not a general overview.
It’s not for you if
- You need legal or tax advice to rely on. We prepare the questions; your lawyer and accountant answer.
- You want someone to raise the money for you while you watch. We prepare the entry with you and make introductions under a written mandate.
Questions
Before you write to me.
Is this legal advice? Do you make introductions?
It isn’t legal advice: I map the decisions and their order and write the questions for your lawyer and accountant. Introductions to investors and partners in the new market are part of the work, under a written mandate.
Do I need a Delaware company to raise from US investors?
Not on day one. US fund documents assume a Delaware C corporation, so the flip works best right before or during a raise. How a flip works.
Can a foreign company use Italian incentives?
Some. Smart&Start Italia accepts foreign companies that commit to open a seat in Italy. See public funding in Italy.
Do you work outside Italy?
Yes. I work between Italy and the rest of Europe, the US, Latin America and the Gulf. Each market changes the structure question. In the UAE, for instance, a qualifying free-zone company can pay 0% corporate tax on qualifying income.
How soon will I have the plan?
The diagnostic takes 10 working days and the entry plan 4 to 6 weeks, counted from the written scope.
Your next market
The first investor abroad will ask where the company sits. Have the answer on one page.
I write each plan myself, so only a few run at the same time. Send me a few lines today and within one working day you’ll have a written scope and a delivery date.
Not ready for a plan? Start with our market-entry guidePlan your market entry
Tell me where the company is and where it’s going.
Sources: Growth Capital and Italian Tech Alliance, 22 January 2026 (€20 million rounds; 46% and 24%); MIMIT, innovative startups, 18 April 2025, and de minimis incentives, 22 September 2026 (65%, €100,000, three-year hold); 26 U.S.C. §1202, Cornell Law School (five years, $15 million, ten times basis; stock acquired after 4 July 2025); Skala, 22 May 2025 (Delaware flip); Art. 73 TUIR, as amended by D.Lgs. 209/2023; SIMEST, market-entry loan, 23 September 2026 (35%, 8 years, collateral waiver to 31 December 2026); Carta, 10 July 2026 ($4.1 million, 18%); Invitalia, Smart&Start Italia, and UAE Ministry of Finance, corporate tax, both read on 6 October 2026; MIMIT annual report, 17 February 2026 (3.7% to 4.3%). The €420,000 is our own arithmetic.