Billionaire Benetton Family Forms Private-Market Investment Firm

The Benetton family’s holding company Edizione is setting up an alternative investment firm with about €3 billion ($3.5 billion) in assets under management as it seeks to grow its private markets.

The company, called 21 Next, will own two other Italian alternative investment firms, 21 Invest and Tages, whose founding shareholders and senior managers will have minority stakes in the new entity, according to a statement on Monday.

With Edizione contributing €500 million in seed capital, the new firm will seek to grow its assets under management to over €10 billion in the coming years as it pursues “an ambitious expansion plan across Europe,” the statement said.

The new fund aims to build on its existing European footprint, with operations in France and Spain, “before considering steps in the US,” Chief Executive Officer Panfilo Tarantelli, who co-founded Tages in 2011, said in an interview to Bloomberg.

The platform will target opportunities in electrification, the automotive ecosystem and digital infrastructure, including data centers, Tarantelli said. Part of Edizione’s €500 million seed capital will support the launch of a first fund in early 2026, as 21 Next pursues investments in private equity, private debt, infrastructure and venture capital industries.

The creation of the new fund, first reported by the Financial Times, marks a further shift in strategy for the Benetton family, which built a global fortune through the United Colors of Benetton fashion group before expanding heavily into transport infrastructure.

That portfolio became politically charged after the 2018 Genoa bridge collapse, which killed 43 people and put Autostrade per l’Italia — then part of the Benetton-controlled Atlantia group — under intense scrutiny. The family later agreed to sell the motorway operator to the Italian state, accelerating a move away from regulated transport assets.