Italy | Current State of Alternative Finance 2020
Today’s expert
Giancarlo Giudici
Giancarlo is the assistant profession at Politecnico di Milano. He teaches courses on Corporate Finance and Economics and Business Organisation. He is also coordinator in Industrial Production Engineering and member of the Reference Council of Lecco Area. Giancarlo works as a scientific director of the Minibond Observatory and the Crowdinvesting Observatory of the School of Management.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giudici-giancarlo-58808a1/
An estimation on market volume in Italy?
The annual volume of Italian AltFin market is about €4 billion in 2019.
Which online AltFin models are frequently used?
In Italy, almost every online alternative finance model is commonly used, except Balance Sheet Property Lending, Revenue Sharing and Community Sharing. These three types are not frequent.
What are the leading platforms?
There are 5 outstanding platforms in terms of financing volume, market influence and popularity:
- Mamacrowd: Specialised in Equity Crowdfunding
- Younited Credit: Balance Sheet Consumer Lending platform
- Crowdfundme.it: Another Equity Crowdfunding platform
- Credimi: Specialised in Invoice Trading
- Walliance: Real Estate Crowdfunding platform
Can you list some successfully financed projects?
Here are some examples of projects:
- Sixth Continent: The largest Equity Crowdfunding deal in Italy. Sixth Continent collected €3.3 million with its equity crowdfunding campaign on the platform 200Crowd
Read more about Six Continent - Winelivery: 3 rounds of Equity Crowdfunding and going public on the stock exchange in 2020. In the third round, Winelivery collected €1,214,373, reaching 304% of its initial objective.
Read more about Winelivery - Thun: Issuer of a minibond.
What are the leading Crowdfunding / FinTech associations?
Three crowdfunding associations:
- Italia Fintech
- Assofintech
- Associazione italiana equity crowdfunding AIEC
Are there any governmental programs / projects promoting Alternative Finance and Crowdfunding?
Yes, here are three projects promoting AltFin in Italy:
- Fondo di Garanzia: Fund guarantees to enhance access to credit
- Cassa Depositi Prestiti: State-owned investment company managing funds of funds
- Fondo Innovazione: Venture capital fund
Are there any research centres and/or projects collecting data on AltFin?
Politecnico di Milano is one of the research centres on alternative finance.
Are there any tax incentives for AltFin investors?
Tax incentives are applied when investing into equity capital of innovative startups and SMEs PIR (piani individuali di risparmio). This is similar to ISA in UK.
How is the AltFin industry regulated? Are there any regulations & legislations?
Banca d’Italia supervises on lending. What’s more, Consob supervises on public offerings and equity crowdfunding.
Please give some forecasts of Alternative Finance in the next 5 years
Personally, I would give an estimation of 30% annual increase of volume in Italian AltFin industry.
