The crowdfunding market | Italy

1.1 Introduction

The crowdfunding market is an emerging and dynamic sector that focuses on raising funds from a large number of people through online platforms. In Italy, the main forms of crowdfunding are reward crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding, lending crowdfunding, and donation crowdfunding:[Shopify]

• Reward Crowdfunding: used for arts and cultural projects. Backers receive non-monetary rewards related to the funded project, such as access to exclusive content or sending the product they are funding.
• Equity Crowdfunding: adopted mainly by SMEs and innovative startups. In exchange for the investment, backers receive company shares or a share in the profits, thus becoming partners in the company.
• Lending Crowdfunding (or P2P Lending): is based on lending money between individuals through an intermediary platform. The individual making the loan gets the repayment of principal plus interest.
• Donation Crowdfunding: funders support a project or cause without expecting anything in return. Primarily used for funding social initiatives, charitable or humanitarian projects.

Crowdfunding in Italy had an early start, however, despite this anticipation, its development has encountered various obstacles, including a high rate of digital illiteracy and a significant distrust of online payments. Despite these challenges, crowdfunding has continued to evolve and mature in Italy. In the decade between 2010 and 2020, we witnessed the expansion of reward and donation crowdfunding platforms, the success of social lending, and a real boom in crowdfunding platforms in 2013. The latter led to the emergence of specific regulation for equity-based crowdfunding.[Crowd-funding]

The trend in more recent years has shown the evolution of crowdfunding toward greater loyalty, decentralization, and internationalization. Growth in equity crow dfunding and greater incorporation of crowdfunding into the Italian economic fabric is expected in the coming years. [Crowd-funding.]

The global crowdfunding market is expected to grow from $1.41 billion in 2023 to $3.62 billion by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.5 % over the forecast period.[Fortunebusinessinsight]

This study focuses on the crowdfunding market in Italy. For information on related markets, such as FinTech, please refer to the specific studies available in the Businesscoot catalog.