A new industrial collaboration has been born between Italy and the United Kingdom, this time in the drone sector.
Presented yesterday at Villa Wolkonsky, the official residence of the British ambassador in Italy in Rome, MGI Italia is the company established by the joint venture between the British MGI Engineering Ltd, a British company founded and led by Mike Gascoyne, a prominent name in the world of Formula 1 and now a reference point in engineering applied to the defense sector, and the Italian Vigilar Group Spa. The latter is the Italian group active in the fields of intelligence, security, and advanced services. Already last year Vigilar Group had decided to enter the defense market by forming a partnership with MGI and now the two companies have taken a step forward.
The news was first reported today by Sole 24 Ore. The new entity will be based in Modena and aims to enhance the engineering skills of the Motor Valley, with particular attention to unmanned systems and other high-tech applications.
All the details.
WHAT IS VIGILAR GROUP
“Founded in 1920, Vigilar Group is an intelligence agency that operates in solving complex cases with the guarantee of maximum confidentiality” reads on its website. Founded in Milan, Vigilar Group operates in the sectors of intelligence, security, and advanced services for companies, law firms, institutions.
As told in a recent interview with Corriere della Sera Davide Castro, son of CEO Francesco Castro and head of the intelligence division of Vigilar Group, the name Vigilar “originates from the private investigator Visco Gilardi. A play on words that becomes history: the first officially recognized investigative agency in Italy, with a license still valid today.”
AND WHAT IT DOES
The main activities are investigations, civil and criminal inquiries, general security services, and consultancy in investigations and security matters.
Castro Jr also explained to the newspaper that the core of the company’s evolution in recent years is VigiLab, the internal research and development division. “Micro cameras, GPS, environmental sweeps to detect spyware and bugs really exist. But the real revolution is in data. And in artificial intelligence.”
With InfoHunter, a proprietary risk intelligence platform, the analysis of the reliability of people and companies becomes fast and scalable, the newspaper continues. “A first-level investigation starts from a few tens of euros,” the manager illustrated to Corriere, “while the more complex ones can reach tens of thousands. The platform analyzes financial, legal, and reputational risk, providing an immediate overview for decision-makers.” There is also Airport Hunter, evolved into the Sea SeMS system, developed for monitoring the security of Milan airports, introducing a predictive approach to risk management. Among the technologies developed by Vigilar is also Social Sentinel, a platform available to clients that allows identifying online hate phenomena and reconstructing the identity of responsible users, even when operating behind anonymous or pseudonymous profiles.
OWNERSHIP
With a share capital of 200,000 euros, the company is 50% controlled by Anita Cappellina and the remaining 50% by Contap Spa (chaired by the same Cappellina).
GOVERNANCE
The board of directors chaired by Francesco Castro (CEO) is composed as follows: Davide Castro and Giampaolo Reale.
THE NUMBERS
Vigilar closed the 2024 financial year with a profit of 93,000 euros, up from 47,000 euros the previous year. As of December 31, 2024, the production value amounts to 1.3 million euros, substantially stable compared to 2023. Costs stand at 1.2 million euros, slightly improved compared to 1.3 million euros in 2023. Regarding EBITDA, it amounts to 198,000 euros while the operating result amounts to 168,000 euros.
THE STRATEGY BEHIND THE UNION WITH THE BRITISH MGI TO MANUFACTURE DRONES
As mentioned at the beginning, the alliance with the British company MGI originated last September when they formed a partnership. But now the two companies have decided to take a step forward and create the joint venture MGI Italia to produce drones.
“We believe this partnership represents an important step towards building a stronger innovation ecosystem and establishing Italy as a strategic hub for future technological and industrial development,” said Francesco Castro, CEO of Vigilar Group, to Sole 24 Ore.
The headquarters of MGI Italia will be in Modena, in the heart of the Emilia Motor Valley. The choice is linked to the industrial and engineering skills developed in the area, historically associated with world-renowned automotive brands.
With “30 years of experience in that sector,” Gascoyne, CEO of MGI Engineering, also highlighted to the industrial daily that “Italy boasts an extraordinary engineering heritage and a globally respected reputation for innovation, precision, and performance. I think of brands like Ferrari, Lamborghini. The partnership with Vigilar Group represents an exciting step forward for MGI as we expand our presence in Europe and build new long-term industrial capabilities together.”
FOCUS ON ADVANCED SYSTEMS FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY
The declared objective of the new company is to develop advanced solutions for defense, security, and aerospace. However, details of ongoing programs remain limited. “The nature of some products means we cannot disclose information that our clients might consider sensitive,” explained Gascoyne.
The amount of the initial investment has also not been made public: “It’s fairly confidential information,” the British manager added.
PRODUCTION PROSPECTS LINKED TO EUROPEAN REARMAMENT
“What can be said is that the support Ukraine receives from Italy and the United Kingdom will certainly be an area where we can cooperate, where discussions are already underway,” Gascoyne revealed. The manager also linked the joint venture’s prospects to the phase of strengthening production capabilities in the defense sector in Europe and NATO countries.
“And then there is the matter of renewing the entire defense industry, not just the Italian one, which we mainly address, but also European and NATO. This,” Gascoyne observes, “means there is an expected steady-state demand of about 200 units per month. We are talking about roughly half a million euros per unit. All units will be produced by MGI Italia.”
Finally, the CEO of the British company announced that “Hiring has already started, currently targeted because initially we need highly qualified engineers and technicians capable of handling certain materials. It will be the first group to do assembly. Later, more people will be involved. But there will also be the opportunity to develop an industrial supply chain with companies already operating in the Modena district.”
