European startups have been feeling the cash crunch for a long time (maxniederhofer.com)

There's no VC or even VC mentality, especially in Italy. Partly it's due to the fact that it's more difficult to make it in a market that is segmented by language barriers, whereas in US you have a critical mass of customers that speak the same language. On the other hand you'll have more competition in US: but that's probably because VC there throw money at anything that moves.