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DaVinci Capitals Milano

How we got here

Built from zero, sold to private equity, still on the cap table.

Not an investment we found on a list. A company the group started, funded and ran, and did not leave when the money arrived.

Una mano annota calcoli accanto a un compasso
Tavola II Read the accounts. Then decide.
  1. 2016The group

    The holding takes shape

    WPI LTD is incorporated in Malta as the holding company of the group, bringing together the advertising technology ventures of its founders, MediaMatic among them. It is the structure that will fund everything that comes next.

  2. 2019The bet

    Cognitive

    Paolo Pettinato and Tommaso Odone found Cognitive on a bet that few shared at the time: that the third-party cookie was finished, and that whoever owned a persistent identifier of their own would own the next cycle of digital advertising. The group funded it and the team built it: a proprietary cookieless identifier, a managed service plugged into more than ten demand and supply side platforms, and Ringlight, a network of premium YouTube channels.

  3. 2024The exit

    PM & Partners, and the reinvestment

    The private equity firm PM & Partners acquires the majority of Cognitive AI S.r.l. DaVinci Capitals, incorporated in Milan on 18 June 2024 and registered two days later, buys 35.55% of the company at the December closing: the group reinvests instead of cashing out, keeps its seat on the board, and Paolo Pettinato stays on as chief executive officer of the company.

  4. NowWhat follows

    An Italian holding, investing across Europe

    Alongside the stake in Cognitive AI, DaVinci Capitals invests in club deals and private equity transactions in European companies, among them Twinset, and manages a portfolio of listed European securities with Tino, its own version of StockPickers.app. The pattern we intend to repeat is the one that worked: own what you build, sell it to someone who can take it further, keep the upside and the seat at the table.

Quando camminerete sulla terra dopo aver volato, guarderete il cielo perché là siete stati e là vorrete tornare.

Leonardo da Vinci