The Team

At the age of 16, Maicol established a small enterprise specializing in acquiring surplus stock from renowned fashion brands and reselling it online. From 2011 to 2022, he served as a professional diver in the Fiamme Oro military corps, achieving a bronze medal at the Kazan World Championships in 2015 and participating in the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2013, he co-founded FunctionalGums and successfully launched DRIVEgum and NaturGum. In 2020, the onset of the Covid pandemic prompted him and his co-founder to transition the business towards sourcing and distributing PPE and Medical Devices, while retaining the Functional name. This shift catalyzed the development of software designed to expedite, optimize, and automate procurement processes – thus, Soource was born.

Following the completion of a trilingual Bachelor's degree in Economics and Social Sciences, Serena pursued a dual Master's degree in International Management and Business Engineering at the Louvain School of Management in Belgium. During her studies, she enriched her academic experience by spending two semesters abroad, one at the Universität zu Köln in Germany and another at the Universität St. Gallen in Switzerland. Notably, during her time at Universität St. Gallen, she engaged in a substantial five-month consultancy project for Coca Cola HBC.

Starting from the age of 15, Manuel has been designing and creating software, microservices, and technological infrastructures. In 2019, he obtained a Diploma as an Electrotechnical Expert, a path that provided him with a strong foundation in Software-Hardware integration. With 8 years of experience in backend development, 5 years in frontend, and 3 years focused on Blockchain technology, he brings a diverse skill set to the table.

MBA Professor, former Johnson& Johnson, Dompè and BFF Banking Group. Nazareno spent over 20 years of his career in the healthcare sector successfully leading international business development teams and covering HR, marketing and finance for various multinational companies (biotech, pharma & medical devices). His expertise, strategic mindset and market knowledge, have allowed him to successfully identify and create in-licensing and out-licensing opportunities within different therapeutic areas, that had a major impact on companies’ revenues. He has built and maintained an extensive international network thanks to his fluency in 5 different languages, his business travels in over 70 countries worldwide and his continuous soft skills improvement.Before founding Functional, Nazareno was founder of FunctionalGums together with Maicol Verzotto.Nazareno is also Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship of IE Business School in Madrid and Luiss Business School in Rome.

Luca recently graduated with honors from a trilingual (Italian, German, and English) Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Beyond academics, he independently managed various projects over the past 5 years, expanding his expertise by fully developing several MERN-based platforms. He established CI/CD pipelines and crafted Cloud Infrastructures, overseeing deployment phases for multiple projects.

Matteo began coding his initial websites at the age of 15. By 19, he had launched his first startup, FlashBeing (a SaaS project management tool), successfully securing a €250K seed round. In 2020, he established CodeWorks, a software development company. Leveraging over 12 years of web development and team management experience, he currently aids businesses in crafting their digital products and structuring their tech teams.

With a robust background as a DevOps engineer, Stefano commenced his journey at the American firm LeadsBridge and further cultivated his skills at the Italian company H-Farm. In 2023, he got the certificate of AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Professional.

Giulio holds two bachelor's degrees, one in Graphic Design and another in Multimedia and Digital Communication. With over 12 years of experience, he's been involved in digital product design, branding, advertising, visual design, and packaging. His career journey has seen him assume the role of a Design Director across multiple agencies, where he crafted compelling designs to align with client requirements and elevate user experiences. In 2022, he successfully completed an Intensive Master's program in UX Design at Talent Garden Innovation School.

Silvia holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and Management, which she pursued in three languages: Italian, German, and English. Throughout her studies, she broadened her horizons by spending a semester at Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, enhancing her expertise in Business Administration. In 2022, she successfully completed an intensive Financial Planning course offered by the Executive Programs at SDA Bocconi.