Access 2 Finance 2026: a full house for manufacturing startups and investors

A full room on Thursday 1 October at Portolano Cavallo‘s Milan offices in Piazza Borromeo. Access 2 Finance 2026, organised by EIT Manufacturing South, brought manufacturing startups and investment funds together for two and a half hours of pitches, discussion and one-to-one meetings.

The format

Access 2 Finance addresses a concrete problem: start-ups developing manufacturing technologies struggle to find investors who genuinely understand the sector. Long sales cycles, hardware and factory pilots are variables not every fund knows how to assess.

Selected startups present their technology, market and funding needs to investors with a specific interest in industry. Networking opportunities follow, where the relationships that lead to a funding round are built.

Giuseppe Pinto, Business Development and Innovation Manager at EIT Manufacturing South, opened the evening by outlining the initiative’s objectives. Then, Startup pitches were followed by networking, which ran well past the scheduled finish.

Why it matters

For a manufacturing startup, the right capital is a question of amount, but it also needs an investor who understands factory adoption timelines and can open doors to industrial customers.

Access 2 Finance is one of the services EIT Manufacturing South uses to take start-ups from technology to market, alongside Access 2 Market, its start-up programmes and support in accessing European funding. Turnout at this edition confirms strong demand for these meetings on both sides.

Next steps

Over the coming weeks, EIT Manufacturing South will follow up on the contacts made during the evening to support conversations between startups and investors. The next appointment in Milan is Access 2 Tech in November 2026, connecting startups with manufacturing companies.

Our thanks go to Portolano Cavallo for hosting us, and to the startups, investors and everyone who filled the room.