Giovanni Calabrese is an Investment Manager at Sella Direct Ventures, where he leads its strategic and investment trajectory. He is a permanent member of the Investment Committee and serves on the Board of key portfolio companies such as Tot and Hercle.

Based in Milan, Giovanni leads Pre-Seed to Series A investments across European fintech and manages a portfolio of 45+ companies with a NAV exceeding €55M. He led the strategic restructuring of Sella’s venture arm and now heads the CVC Competence Center, driving best practices across the Group.

Previously, Giovanni served at the intersection of the Investment & Tech Team at Redstone VC, where he contributed to the development of Redstone’s internal data platform – SOFIA – while focusing on deal sourcing and corporate advisory across a multitude of sectors including DeepTech, FinTech and AI.

Earlier in his career, he led as operating director Test We Can, an ed-tech startup successfully acquired by Testbusters, where he subsequently led integration activities.

Giovanni co-founded and co-leads Italians in VC —a global community of Italian VC professionals— aimed at supporting Italian entrepreneurship worldwide. 

He is passionate about travelling and playing football. You can find him around Italy and Europe for FC Internazionale Milano (Inter).

Education:

• Bocconi University – Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
• Bocconi University – Master of Science in Economics and Management of Innovation and Technology, cum laude
• Copenhagen Business School – Master of Science in Innovation and Business Development, cum laude