Sebastiano Peluso

About Sebastiano Peluso

I work at the intersection of innovation, investment, and international growth, building bridges between governments, startups, investors, and corporations across the U.S. and Italian ecosystems.I am a Global Innovation & Investment Executive with over 25 years of experience spanning Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), venture building, startup ecosystems, and public-private partnerships. I currently serve as Head of Innovation and FDI Desk at the Italian Trade Agency, where I lead initiatives focused on attracting U.S. investment into Italy and supporting the international scale-up of high-potential companies.Alongside my institutional work, I have been deeply hands-on as a venture builder and early-stage investor, operating a venture studio / micro-VC model long before the label became popular. I have co-founded startups, launched acceleration programs, invested at pre-seed and seed stage, raised capital, supported scale-up, and successfully exited companies.Across my career, I have worked end-to-end on the venture lifecycle — from idea validation and venture production, to capital raising, go-to-market, scaling, and exits — both as an operator and as an investor.My work has included FDI strategy and execution, ecosystem development, investor engagement, startup acceleration, fundraising, and venture production, with direct exposure to AI, biotech, cleantech, advanced manufacturing, digital platforms, foodtech, and mobility.I have led and supported initiatives across major innovation hubs including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Europe, operating comfortably across institutional, entrepreneurial, and investment environments.I am particularly interested in roles and projects at the crossroads of innovation, investment, and international ecosystems, where long-term value is created by aligning strategy, capital, talent, and execution. Based in the U.S.| Active across North America & Europe | Dual Citizen 🤝 Always open to meaningful conversations around innovation, FDI, venture, and ecosystem leadership

Experience

1. Investor, Member of the Advisory Board

   Isola.Catania

   Nov 2021 — Present · Catania, IT

   Isola is the place in Catania that enables innovation and entrepreneurship: an accelerator that promotes and supports innovative ideas, startups and SMEs; educational hub that offers learning opportunities and attracts talent.

Education

• Stanford University

  Design Thinking Action Lab, Design Thinking

  2013 — 2013

• Politecnico di Milano

  Master of Engineering - MEng, Business Administration, Economics, ICT, Marketing, Mechanics, Supply Chain, Innovation

• Harvard Business School Online

  Entrepreneurship Essentials

  2020 — 2020

• Columbia Business School

  Executive Education - Online Programs, Digital Marketing: Customer Engagement, Social Media, Planning & Analytics

  2019 — 2019

Skills

• Social Networking
• Multimedia
• New Media
• Crm
• Business Plan
• Education
• User Experience
• Marketing Strategy
• Ict
• Italian
• Business Development
• Digital Marketing
• Tourism
• Business Strategy
• Change Management
• Business Planning
• Leadership
• Web 2.0
• Management Consulting
• Competitive Analysis
• Start-Ups
• Marketing Research
• Customer Relationship Management (Crm)
• Marketing
• Management
• Project Management
• Destination Management
• Online Marketing
• Business Intelligence
• Social Media
• Strategy
• E-Commerce
• Multimedia Project Management
• Marketing Management
• Market Analysis
• Community Management
• Product Management
• Project Planning
• Consulting
• Marketing Communications