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After Massimiliano Magrini’s resignation from Google Italy, the company promptly answered to the italian press. Italian financial website Affaritaliani collected a few sentences.

“We are sorry to hear of Massimiliano Magrini’s resignation, but we have a robust and consolidated organization that will allow us to manage the transition”.
“On the other hand, we are very happy to see Magrini’s entrepreneurial choice, which happens to be focused in the area of internet startups, where Google comes from and still operates in. To sustain economy on the web, the whole ecosystem has to evolve”.

The choice for Magrini’s successor is “in progress”, check back this site for updates on the story.

Breaking News: Massimiliano Magrini, Google Italy’s country manager just resigned from the company.
Magrini, who helped the start up of Google in Italy in 2002 after working with Altavista, announced he will start a venture capital fund and a startup incubator.

“I will develop in Italy what venture capitalists are already doing in Usa”.

Joined by 20 other key players in the italian internet tech scene, he aims to bring to Europe a Silicon Valley-like mindset, providing help as well as funding, to very early stage companies.
From the few sentences we could grab he seems quite determined to do so.

“The timing and the place are right. I’m having great feedback from the financial community. I will create a real new Silicon Valley in Milan”.

We will update you on his projects as soon as we have more news.

Venture capital in Europe in not dead.
Innogest, a $120 million fund with offices in Milan, Padova and Torino, just reminded us that VC deals are possible, injecting the huge sum of $8 Million into BeeTV.

“This is the single largest investment our firm has ever made,” said Marco Pinciroli, Innogest CEO. “This fact alone shows how much we believe in beeTV, with the concept, its management, and its business strategy.”

“We already knew we had the most innovative product on the market. Now we have the means to push it to the next level,” commented Rodolfo Hecht, beeTV’s Chairman. “We are proud of being one of the few companies that is able to announce a major VC deal in today’s frozen market.”

The Milan-based startup launched in 2006, and is now working towards its 1.5 release, they already have offices in Tel Aviv and Los Angeles and claim to have partnerships with the most important TV networks worldwide.

They recently pitched their product at DEMO08, you can see the video here:

The aim of BeeTV is to help you choose what you watch more easily, they will replace your usual tv guide with personal recommendation based on your taste and mood. The algorithm team is led by the well-regarded Gavin Potter – the recommendation guru. Their commercial operations are expected to begin in 2010.

The potential is really huge and I’m pretty sure the investment will pay off. Providers will surely be interest in their offerings that can integrate PC, TV and even mobile phones in a whole new experience.

You can read more about their products here.