Tax incentives, measures to facilitate the divestment, and better knowledge of opportunities: these are the main needs felt by market players in crowdinvesting sector, where a service provider operates a digital platform to facilitate the matching of investors and entrepreneurs seeking funding through alternative channels.

This is the conclusion of the latest FinTech Working Paper on "crowdinvesting made in Italy", the study developed by Consob and Università Politecnica delle Marche on the basis of experimental analyses and a survey among operators in the sector: enterprises, investors and crowdfunding service providers.

The Working Paper – edited by Valeria Caivano and Paola Soccorso (Consob) and by Caterina Lucarelli and Francesco James Mazzocchini (Università Politecnica delle Marche) – explores the crowdfunding phenomenon, the digital version of the old fund collection among relatives and friends, and more generally among investors potentially interested in supporting the start-up of an entrepreneurial project. The study, focusing on crowdinvesting, also analyses lending investment, i.e. the underwriting of corporate bonds or loans.

The full application, as of 11 November 2023, of the first organic European Regulation (EU Regulation 2020/1503) has not found our country unprepared. In 2013 Italy was indeed the first among the Member States to regulate investments in equity instruments through online platforms, and is currently ranking second in the EU in terms of the number of authorised providers, second only to France.

Service providers appear to be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and are preparing to seize the opportunities arising from the new regulatory framework, such as cross-border opening and the consequent boost to competitiveness and the progressive specialisation of platforms.