Elisa Schembari
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
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- Full Name
- Elisa Schembari
- Title
- Partner, Kairos Ventures ESG One; Founder and Chairwoman of the Board, RedSeed Ventures
- Firm
- Kairos Partners SGR / Kairos Ventures ESG One; RedSeed Ventures
- Firm Type
- Venture Capital
- Investment Stage
- Early-stage and late-stage startups and innovative SMEs; RedSeed profile also lists seed and Series A activity
- Check Size
- €500,000–€3,000,000 for Kairos Partners SGR’s venture-capital policy
- Target Company Profile
- Innovative Italian startups and SMEs with technology-led products, qualified management teams, ambitious growth plans, sustainability relevance, and potential M&A, industrial/financial sale, or IPO paths
- Sector Focus
- B2B digital transformation, life sciences, new space economy, green energy technology; AIFI also lists aerospace, energy/environment, healthcare, and ICT
- Geographic Focus
- Primarily Italy, with selective exposure to Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Israel
- Location
- Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Background
Elisa Schembari is a Milan-based venture-capital investor currently associated with Kairos Partners SGR as Partner of Kairos Ventures ESG One. AIFI lists her among the three executives for Kairos Partners SGR’s venture-capital activity, alongside Roberto Zanco and Matteo Bonfanti.
Before Kairos, Schembari worked at McKinsey & Company and Procter & Gamble. In 2013, she co-founded RedSeed Ventures with Roberto Zanco. Financecommunity describes RedSeed as a venture-capital investor focused on technology startups and innovative SMEs; Schembari has held board roles in portfolio companies including Leaf Space, Farmoderm, Midnight Call, and Liquidweb.
Kairos launched Kairos Ventures ESG One in December 2021 as a closed-end Italian venture-capital fund promoting sustainability principles. The fund completed a first close of €10 million in May 2022 and began operations with an investment in Endostart, a Tuscan medtech company developing an endoscopic platform based on Magnetic Balloon Anchoring Technology.
Her education records include a Laurea Magistrale from Università di Roma Tor Vergata from 2000 to 2005 and an ESG Analysis and Investing certification from MIP Politecnico di Milano issued in June 2022.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Invests through Kairos Ventures ESG One in innovative startups and SMEs across early and late stages, with a sustainability lens.
- The fund’s stated focus areas are B2B digital transformation, life science, new space economy, and green energy technology.
- AIFI lists the firm’s investment policy as €500,000 minimum and €3,000,000 maximum, with geographic preferences including Italy, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
- Schembari’s own stated thesis for Kairos Ventures ESG One: “investire in aziende tecnologiche innovative che aspirano a raggiungere obiettivi sociali, ambientali ed economici ambiziosi.”
- For Endostart, Schembari highlighted the attributes she looks for: technological innovation, a highly qualified management team, and an ambitious investment plan.
- RedSeed’s historical pattern shows very early involvement in Italian deep-tech and digital companies, including Leaf Space when it was still at concept stage, plus medical-device and digital-economy investments.
Notable Investments
- Leaf Space - Italian ground-segment-as-a-service company for satellite operators; RedSeed invested early and participated as an existing shareholder in the €20 million Series B announced in July 2023. Schembari was President of RedSeed Ventures and former President of Leaf Space at the time of the announcement.
- Endostart - Tuscan medtech company developing an endoscopic platform for incomplete colonoscopies; Kairos Ventures ESG One’s first investment, announced with the fund’s €10 million first close in May 2022.
- BetaGlue Technologies - Life-science company developing an advanced radiotherapy platform for intratumoral treatments; Kairos Ventures ESG One was in advanced investment activity in 2022 and Kairos later publicly referenced its participation in the financing round.
- Materia Medica Processing - Tuscan life-sciences startup developing pharmaceutical and phytotherapeutic cannabis-derived active ingredients; Kairos Ventures ESG One made this its fourth investment in October 2022, leading a €2.2 million round with Merida Capital Holdings participating.
- Newcleo - Nuclear-technology energy startup; AIFI and WSI reported it as Kairos Ventures ESG One’s third investment in the energy sector in 2022.
- Liquidweb / BrainControl - Brain-computer-interface medical-device company; RedSeed led a €2.5 million financing round in 2018 to support BrainControl’s growth.
- BeMyEye - Crowdsourced retail store-check and market-research company; raised €2 million in 2014 from 360 Capital Partners, RedSeed Ventures, Capital B!, and business angels.
- Apono - Cloud access governance and just-in-time privileged-access company; RedSeed Ventures was listed among investors, and Apono was acquired by 1Password in June 2026.
- Alomana - Milan-based enterprise AI company building Alo, an engine for deploying autonomous AI agents into enterprise systems; Kairos Ventures ESG One participated in its €4 million round announced March 18, 2026.
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