Impact Hub Milano, Angels4Women eye Hangzhou presence

Marco Nannini, CEO of Impact Hub Milano and a board member of the global Impact Hub Association, revealed that he is actively seeking local partners to open an Impact Hub chapter in the city, which is home to tech giants including Alibaba and DeepSeek.

In the same session, Federica Danioni revealed that Angels4Women (A4W), the first Italian business angel group investing in female-led startups, also intends to establish a Chinese chapter based in Hangzhou. Danioni serves as A4W’s managing director.

The announcements were made at the NetSun International Business Center in Hangzhou during an event on 28 September organized by the Italy-China Link Association (ICLA), led by Maria Moreni.

“The city has everything it takes – excellent universities, major technology companies, and a new generation of entrepreneurs,” Nannini said.

Impact Hub is a global network of more than 135 spaces across 65 countries, bringing together entrepreneurs, innovators, professionals, and capital. Its activities rest on five pillars: co-working spaces, startup incubation and acceleration, open innovation with corporations and institutions, investment support through business angel associations, and education in innovation and investment.

Nannini, who also serves as Executive Vice President of ICLA for cooperation and economic development, outlined a two-way bridge between Italy and China. On one side, ICLA aims to support Chinese investors pursuing direct investment in Italian startups and companies or seeking industrial and commercial partnerships in Italy.

On the other, it will help Italian investors and entrepreneurs build direct collaborations in China, connecting them with one of the world’s most dynamic innovation systems. He stressed that collaboration only works when it becomes operational.

“Clear goals, people accountable for them, and results that can be measured,” he said, adding that every actor – institutions, companies, investors, and startups – must gain a real benefit. “We should measure this day not by the agreement we sign, but by the projects we will be able to talk about together a year from now, here or in Milan.”

Nannini’s own career lends weight to the initiative. A Bocconi economics graduate with executive education at INSEAD, he spent over fifteen years in strategy consulting at Boston Consulting Group and Roland Berger before becoming an entrepreneur and investor.

The Angels4Women (A4W) officially joined the Belt and Road Cooperation network during the event. Danioni described the move as a first step toward building a permanent presence in Hangzhou, with the goal of connecting Italian female angel investors with Chinese startups and fostering cross-border investment in women-led ventures.

The group, founded in 2018 by AXA Italia and Impact Hub, is one of two business angel associations under the Impact Hub umbrella, alongside Angels for Impact. Nannini (pictured) serves as Vice President of A4W.