20-21 February 2018, Mexico City: Workshop on building business linkages that boost SME productivity. http://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/workshop-on-building-business-linkages-that-boost-SME-productivity.htm

1. Crowdinvesting in Italy:
a case study
OECD Workshop on building business linkages
20 February 2018, Mexico City
Mattia Corbetta
Policy Advisor on Innovation and Startups
DG for Industrial Policy, Competitiveness and SMEs
Italian Ministry of Economic Development

2. 2
Crowdinvesting
Sub-category of crowdfunding, i.e. the practice of funding a project or venture by
raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via
the Internet, in which investors receive returns on invested capital.
 It does not encompass donation- and reward-based crowdfunding
Online platforms are key: they do not only put in touch enterprises with potential
investors, but also do help finalise the deal between the parties
1. Equity Crowdfunding
2. LendingCrowdfunding
3. InvoiceTrading
3 main trends
The total amount of capital mobilised through crowdinvesting in Italy
between June 2016 – June 2017 is €189.2 M
Made by: €12,4 EC+€ 88,3 LC +€88,5M IT

3. 3
• €7.7 B: alternative finance market in Europe up to 2016
• ≈€2 B raised capital in 2016 (crowdinvesting≈80%)
• +101% between 2015 and 2016 (UK excluded, +41% UK included)
• Italy is the 7th European country for online alternative finance market
volume, after UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Spain
European and global alternative finance trends:
how does Italy compare?
largest market segment (70+% of crowdinvesting)
more than 45% of crowdinvesting
Lending
crowdfunding
(2016)
InvoiceTrading market is relatively more developed in Italy than the
European average (3rd largest European market after Belgium and France)
Regional markets and main players
Compared to Asia and the Americas Europe has a smaller but more scattered market:
Asia €221.6 B  China accounts for 99%
Americas €31.8 B  US account for 98%
Europe €7.7 B  UK accounts for 73%
Source:The 3rd European Alternative Finance Industry Benchmarking Report, University of Cambridge

4. 4
1. Equity crowdfunding:
Italy’s first-of-its-kind regulations
• Italy was the 1st country in the world to introduce dedicated regulations
(Consob resolution n. 18592/2013)
• 2014 2014 2015 2015
At first they applied just to innovative startups
(as defined by decree law 179/2012, the «Italian Startup Act»)
In 2015 this tool was extended to all innovative SMEs
(as defined by decree law 3/2015)
Eventually, Budget Law 2017 enabled all Italian SMEs established as
private limited companies, just like any other public company, to offer
capital shares to the public, and therefore to carry out equity
crowdfunding campaigns
 The market is thus likely to grow esponentially in the coming years

5. 5
22 portals authorised by Consob
159 campaigns launched since
2013 (135 by startups, 14 by
innovative SMEs, 3 by investment
vehicles, 1 by other type of SME)
 86 successful campaigns
(61.4%)
 19 ongoing (8 already reached
their minimum target)
 54 not successful (38.6%)
79 campaigns completed just in
2017
58.8 investors on average involved
for each campaign
Updated at 20th January 2018
Source:Observatory on Crowdinvesting,
Polytechnic University of Milan
1. Equity crowdfunding:
campaigns completed
4 7
19
49
7
19
6
9
9
30
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Successful campaigns Ongoing campaigns Unsuccessful campaigns

6. 1.3 1.8
4.4
11.4
1.6
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Million €
6
€20.5 M collected since 2013
 €223,148: average fundraising target
 15.5%: average quota of equity
capital offered
 160.2%: average ratio between
raised money and target
 Total collected capital is 4 times
higher than 1.5 years ago
 Capital collected in 2017 is almost
3 times more than the amount of
2016
Total: €20.5 M
Updated at 20th January 2018
Source:Observatory on Crowdinvesting,
Polytechnic University of Milan
1. Equity crowdfunding:
capital raised
Capital raised up to 2015:
(source: Crowdfunding Hub)
€3.1 M
€50.1 M
€37.3 M
€10.7 M (2014)

7. 7
2. Lending crowdfunding: regulations and data
• Differently from equity crowdfunding, Italy has not enacted dedicated
regulations in this field yet
 This hampers the involvement of institutional investors!
• Lending crowdfunding is therefore grounded on general laws for the
banking system (i.e.TUB –Testo Unico Bancario)
• Bank of Italy issued dedicated interpretative guidelines in 2016
• 9 lending crowdfunding platforms currently operating in Italy: 6 for loans
to individual consumers, 3 to businesses (1 is for non-profits only)
• They adopt either a «diffuse» (i.e. platforms allocate credit on the basis of
some general instructions received, a.k.a. «auto-bid functionality») or a
«direct» business model (i.e. lenders choose whom to fund)
• Overall 11,773 loans from around 10,000 lenders
Why do companies use it? It is faster than bank loans, conditions and costs
are perceived to be very clear and it is a good way to diversify credit sources
Updated at 30th June 2017
Source: Observatory on Crowdinvesting, Polytechnic University of Milan

8. 8
2. Lending crowdfunding: data
€88.3M collected, of which €56.5 M (64%) between June 2016 and June 2017
 the amount collected tripled in the last year
Amount of loans
granted through
Italian active
platforms, overall and
between June 2016 -
2017 (Million €)
Updated at 30th June 2017. Source:Observatory on Crowdinvesting, Polytechnic University of Milan
26.8
6.2
40.0
0.022
13.0
3.3 2.9 0.6
37.3
10.5
2.00
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Smartika Prestiamoci Soisy Younited
Credit
Motus Quo Borsa del
Credito
Lendix
Overall
June '16 - June '17
Business
Consumer

9. 9
3. InvoiceTrading: regulations and data
• Companies can sell individual invoices in order to free up cash
The average time to get invoices paid in Italy is above the EU average
( 24 days to get a B2B invoice paid, 19; 26; 46; 52)
• Also in this case, there are no specific regulations: general rules on credit
transfer apply (i.e. ItalianCivil Code)
• 5 invoice trading platforms in Italy.On 30 June 2016 there was only one
• Platforms allocate invoices through competitive bidding mechanisms
• Overall 2,108 invoices traded
Why do companies use it? To easily and quickly free up cash: there is no need
for collateral or other guarantees and the feedback from buyers is very quick
Updated at 30th June 2017
Source:Observatory on Crowdinvesting, PolytechnicUniversity of Milan

10. 10
3. InvoiceTrading
€88.5 M collected (≈85% between June 2016 – June 2017)
i.e. 8 times the amount registered at 30 June 2016
 It is the crowdinvesting sector that reported the highest growth trend
Amount of invoices
traded on Italian
platforms, overall and
between June 2016
and June 2017
(Million €)
Updated at 30th June 2017
Source:Observatory on Crowdinvesting, Polytechnic University of Milan
66.5
17.0
2.9 2.1
53.1
17.0
2.9 2.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
WorkInvoice Credimi CashMe CrowdCity
Overall
June '16 - June '17

11. 11
3 take-home messages from Italy’s experience
1. Startups are an ideal sandbox for new policy tools
Successful experimentation with a niche of companies paved the way for
a broadening of the target group (step-by-step approach)
2. Consultation with stakeholders is key
Regulations on equity crowdfunding have been amended and improved
several times (2016 and 2018) thanks to public consultation with
platforms and other financial players with solid hands-on experience (e.g.
definition of institutional anchor investors, dematerialisation of shares to
foster secondary market)
3. Crowdinvesting can be a catalyst for further investment
A survey carried out by the Polytechnic University of Milan shows that
equity crowdfunding campaigns can have a signalling effect toward
investors, i.e. in many cases they have been followed by larger
investment by corporations or financial institutions

12. Thank you for your attention
Mattia Corbetta
PolicyAdvisor on Innovation and Startups
DG for Industrial Policy,Competitiveness and SMEs
Italian Ministry of Economic Development
Contact:
 mattia.corbetta@mise.gov.it
 @CorbettaMattia
 startup@mise.gov.it
Visit:
 mise.gov.it
 osservatoriocrowdinvesting.it
 startup.registroimprese.it