It’s the right time to talk about Equity Crowdfunding and we’ll do it on the 24th of January, during the first appointment of the year of “Talking Heads”, our event format dedicated to innovation, technology, and trends with the participation of leaders, startuppers, and experts in the sector.
Equity crowdfunding also allows small savers to buy shares of startups on authorized sites. It is growing globally and shows no signs to let up. 2018 was a special year for Equity Crowdfunding: € 30 million were raised just on the 10 major platforms in Italy alone.
2019 could also be a decisive year for this form of investment. This appears evident reading the maxi amendment made to the Italy budget law containing measures designed to create a high number of new technology companies and project the economy towards new structures enabled by technology.
The big news concerning Equity Crowdfunding as to do with the simplification of investments through crowdfunding portals meaning people can invest in bonds and debt instruments via online portals. This already takes place in many other countries and will also occur in the European Union when the Regulation on European Crowdfunding Service Providers will give its approval.
During the event “Talking Heads – Equity Crowdfunding: Italian & European Regulatory Frameworks”, together with lawyer Giovanni Cucchiarato (Partner @ DWF Italy), we will discover what is new in the Italian and European regulatory framework and what is the real effectiveness of this new legislation. Matteo Masserdotti, CEO of 200crowd, will explain why access to the capital market has never been easier. Giacomo Bertoldi, CEO of Walliance, will focus on equity crowdfunding in the Real Estate sector.
We look forward to seeing you on January 24th, sign up at this link!
“I think that we should distinguish between the general principle introduced by the new law, which is beneficial and with which I certainly agree, and the formulation of the rule, on which I have some doubts. In principle, extending the business perimeter of the online portals to debt instruments creates exciting opportunities. It offers to SMEs the possibility to raise new financial resources in a quicker and more affordable way compared to the traditional channels and allows crowdfunding portals to expand their business to the issuing of bonds and other debt instruments (in addition to the issuing of equity instruments).
However, the rule limits the possibility to subscribe to bonds or other debt instruments through the authorized portals “to professional investors and to specific categories of investors identified by Consob”. This limit, on the one hand, is not applicable to the (riskier) investments in equity, and, on the other hand, frustrates in practice the objective of the rule, since it is doubtful that professional investors will be actually interested in using online portals to make investments in bonds or other debt instruments issued by SMEs”
Giovanni Cucchiarato (DWF Italy)
“I firmly believe that Italian fintech can benefit greatly from the use of equity crowdfunding. In addition to Soisy, companies like Revolut and TransferGo have also used this tool with incredible success. The market, personified by both consumers and investors, is looking for instruments that bring innovation and transparency to the market. Equity crowdfunding can, therefore, be extremely effective to convince consumers themselves to invest in fintech.
The same concept can be applied to SMEs in traditional sectors such as the restaurant business, real estate and retail in general. When there is a strong relationship between the product offered by a brand and the consumer, investment becomes a simple consequence “
Matteo Masserdotti (200Crowd)
Traditional forms of financing have an increasingly less significant presence on the market, due both to the difficulty of access and cumbersome bureaucracy in granting a loan. Crowdinvesting platforms have therefore arrived on the market to make alternative sources of funding accessible to SMEs. So far these platforms have raised over 50 million euros of investments, much more than a typical small Italian Venture Capital fund would”.
Giacomo Bertoldi (Walliance)
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