Learn Italian: L'investitore era inesperto. Malgrado ciò, ha trovato il capitale. - The investor was inexperienced. Despite this, he found the capital.

The word malgrado normally triggers the subjunctive when it introduces a new clause (like malgrado fosse inesperto). However, here it is paired with ciò (this) to form the phrase malgrado ciò (despite this). This acts as a transitional phrase starting a new, independent sentence, so it is followed by the standard indicative tense (ha trovato).

Could I use "ciononostante" instead of "malgrado ciò" in this sentence?

Yes, you can use them interchangeably here. Ciononostante means "nevertheless" or "nonetheless," and it works exactly like malgrado ciò to introduce a counter-argument in a new sentence. You would just say: Ciononostante, ha trovato il capitale.

Why do we use the imperfetto for "era" but the passato prossimo for "ha trovato"?

This is a classic mix of past tenses. Era (imperfetto) is used to describe an ongoing state or background condition in the past: the investor's lack of experience. Ha trovato (passato prossimo) is used for a specific, completed action that happened against that background: he successfully found the money.

Wait, isn't "capitale" a feminine word? Why does it say "il capitale"?

The gender changes the meaning! As a masculine noun, il capitale refers to financial capital, meaning funds or assets, which fits this sentence perfectly. If it were feminine, la capitale, it would mean a capital city, like Rome or London.