Pi Campus

Marco Trombetti, CEO and co-founder of both Pi Campus and Translated, leads the investment team. The firm maintains a lean internal structure and leans on a formal network of advisors — including former Benchmark partner George Coelho and angel investor Ariel Poler — for deal evaluation and portfolio support. Final investment decisions rest with the internal team.

Pi Campus draws deal flow from its 20-year presence in applied AI through Translated and from the Pi School, which operates at the intersection of academic research and commercial AI engineering. The firm also cites Y Combinator as a significant co-investor and referral source. Its startup campus, composed of seven luxury villas in Rome, acts as a physical hub that attracts early-stage founders across Europe.

Pi Campus operates as a venture capital firm that grew out of a single-family profit pool. The fund was initially the investment arm of Translated, the AI translation company, and was capitalized with profits generated by Marco Trombetti, Isabelle Andrieu, and Gianluca Granero. It has since formalized into a standalone VC that accepts co-investors and deploys capital into external startups.

Pi Campus exclusively makes direct investments in early-stage startups. The firm has not publicly disclosed any fund-of-funds commitments or LP positions in other venture vehicles. Its typical entry is a direct equity or SAFE investment of €50k to €500k for 1% to 10% ownership.

Pi Campus targets early-stage companies, spanning seed and startup phases, and will follow on into growth rounds for existing portfolio holdings. The firm does not rigidly define sub-stages but states a preference for companies that apply AI to large, slow-moving markets. It will evaluate later-stage investments if the startup is growing unusually fast.

The firm does not publish an explicit exclusion list. However, its mandate centers on AI-applied startups targeting slow-moving industries, and it acknowledges limited understanding of sectors far outside this focus. The website indicates it will still meet founders outside AI if growth metrics are exceptional.

Pi School is a separate legal entity that shares leadership with Pi Campus: Isabelle Andrieu serves as Pi School CEO. The school functions as an applied AI research and engineering unit that validates, builds, and scales AI products. It has delivered over 100 AI MVPs and attracted more than €7 million in EU and ESA grants, creating a pipeline of technical projects and talent that indirectly benefits Pi Campus portfolio companies.