We often hear about Nana Bianca as a creative think tank in Florence, but perhaps we don’t really understand what you do. Tell us more.
We’ve changed our communications to “We try to build the future” to show that we’re working… Alongside friends and entrepreneurs Paolo Barberis and Jacopo Marello, we came up with the idea for Nana Bianca as a start-up studio, a company that’s able to attract human talent, developers, engineers, creatives and designers, people with whom we can build new company financed by us that grasp market trends. We work on the business model, namely defining the product or service, and then on every aspect of marketing, acquisition and customer care. The difference between the success and the failure of a digital product is all about the execution.
This formula is unique in Italy and has a strong social impact on the local area’s ability to attract investments and create new business. We’ve established 70 companies since 2012 and created about 500 jobs, from coworkers to employees.
Beneath all this are acceleration programs, a big gym or a school, where we offer a short program to assist independent business plans for companies that we select and finance. The acceleration takes place through being inserted into our company ecosystem at various levels of maturity. The one thing they have in common is that they all work on digital technologies that facilitate their model.
Nana Bianca recently moved into the renovated Granaio dell’Abbondanza in lungarno Soderini. Are the new offices inspiring you?
The new headquarters is the result of four years of work with the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, which decided to invest heavily in an important piece of real estate to give young people a vision of the work of the future. Inside, there are 400 people in the co-working space, there’s a 220-seat auditorium, a gorgeous restaurant and social café, with free cultural events every day. In September, an area dedicated to training will be inaugurated: Up Academy. What’s new about it is that Nana Bianca opens its doors to the city. Citizens, tourists and craftspeople can all step inside and enjoy a coffee with an artificial intelligence engineer. And anyone can book a meeting room for just 30 euro to feel part of the buzz!
