In the phase of relaunching companies, crowdfunding can also be an incentive. Indeed, if the central theme of the next edition of Digital Innovation Days is the path "from Lockdown to Restart," this form of bottom-up investment is an opportunity to restart, thanks also to the perspective offered by theEuropean Union.
In fact, the hypothesis is to create a single European market forequity crowdfunding (financing a project in exchange for shares) and lending (lending with interest), limited to campaigns capped at 5 million euros and for initiatives dedicated to the development of startups and SMEs.
The legislation could come into force as early as 2021, depending on the European Parliament's approval timeframe-a timing that could help the investment growth trend. In Italy, in fact, crowdfunding projects registered +56 percent for equity and 52 percent for lending in the July 2019-June 2020 period, with nearly 391 million euros raised, despite the Covid-19 emergency (data Report Osservatorio Enterpreneurship & Finance of Politecnico di Milano).
While Italy now ranks fourth among European investors, it is interesting to note how crowdfunding is no longer just the preserve of large investors, but on the contrary, the participation of small contributors is increasingly frequent (Starteed data) and on very cross-cutting projects, from Fintech to Sustainability.
Coderblock onMamacrowd
Among the most interesting national cases we can mention Coderblock onMamacrowd: created during the lockdown to remedy the problem of returning to the office and aimed especially at SMEs, it offers collaboration solutions on the smartworking model, reproducing the dynamics of a real space (with funding of more than €294,000); also on Mamacrowd was launched Airlite, which, with an investment raising of €938,000, has developed a technology to purify the air.
Turning instead to Two Hundred Crowd, it is impossible not to mention Soisy, a platform that allows users to buy services in installments through e-commerce thanks to loans from individuals and that in less than 12 hours has raised more than €1.3 million, and Splitty Pay, a shared payment system for splitting transactions to increase sales and improve purchasing (€150,000).
Finally, staying in the fintech sector, we mention iCashly, launched on Crowdfundme, which with an overfunding of €152,000 offers digital payment and investment services, areas that are definitely expanding.
Francesca Tommasi
Brand Ambassador Digital Innovation Days