In this episode of 0100 Impact Talks, host Laura Iriarte sits down with Francesco Perticarari, the solo GP behind Silicon Roundabout Ventures—a £5M microfund investing in Europe's most unfashionable frontier tech startups. A computer scientist turned VC, Francesco shares his journey from building Europe’s largest deep tech meetup to launching a contrarian fund that backs photonics, quantum, climate infrastructure, and defense startups before anyone else will.
With sharp critiques of “hype-driven” venture capital, government overreach, and Europe’s overreliance on public LPs, Francesco calls for a bold reset: more solo GPs, more private capital, and more fund managers willing to bet on the weird and the hard. He also opens up about his personal shift from peace activist to defense tech investor, spurred by the war in Ukraine and a new understanding of deterrence as a path to peace.
This episode is a candid, deeply thought-provoking conversation on why microfunds matter—and how conviction-driven investing could redefine the future of European innovation.
he third edition of 0100 International — organized by Zero One Hundred Conferences in partnership with the Milan City Council’s Department of Economic Development and Milano&Partners — brought together the global private markets community for a high-signal, execution-focused gathering held from October 27–29.
François Candelon, Partner for Value Creation & Portfolio Monitoring at Seven2, shares how the firm aligns every investment around a clear “exit animal”—a vision of the company at exit—and uses disciplined execution, AI-driven transformation, and sustainability as levers for resilience and premium valuations. From reengineering core processes with AI to embedding decarbonization into business strategy, Candelon explains how Seven2 builds companies that are not just exit-ready, but future-proof.
Private markets are entering a new era where trust, compliance, and technology converge. While public markets enjoy automation and transparency, private assets still depend on paper-based, fragmented systems. Antonio Chiarello, CEO of Weltix, argues that the next leap forward is not just digitization, but the creation of digital infrastructures that redefine ownership. In this conversation, he discusses why friction is structural rather than technological, how regulation enables innovation, and how programmable liquidity and transparency can channel more private capital into real economic growth.
