Giuseppe Folonari

Biografia

Giuseppe Folonari is the Founder and Managing Partner of High Tides, a NY-based pre-seed VC backing high-skilled immigrants building successful global businesses in the US.
He also teaches as Adjunct Professor at Bologna Business School and continues to serve as Chief of Operations & Growth at Onde Alte, a social innovation lab dedicated to generating a positive impact through innovation; the company was acquired by H-FARM in 2023.
In his professional life, he’s always been involved in innovation and entrepreneurship: first at Italian Angels for Growth - the largest Business Angels group in Europe - then for several years at H-FARM, where he contributed to the creation and launch of the first acceleration program in Italy (H-Camp) and to some highly successful investments such as Depop (acquired by ETSY for $1.6B).
In 2014, he began his collaboration with AKQA, starting with a business development role in Hong Kong and later back in Italy, creating what would become the European Business Strategy & Transformation team, a new strategy consulting and venture building unit, which he grew from 0 to 25 people and led as Executive Director until 2021. He was among the founding members of SG DAO, the first accelerator established as a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), is an active angel investor - particularly in entrepreneurs and companies that enable global freedom of movement.
He’s lived, studied, and worked in 3 different continents, and is currently based in New York. Despite being a Torino supporter, he’s still passionate about football.