January 30, 2023 Statistics

Equity crowdfunding for Italian startups and SMEs slowed down in 2022: CrowdfundingBuzz statistics

2022 was a year of slowdown for Italian equity crowdfunding. It is the first time this has happened since the market has existed, since 2014.

According to CrowdfundingBuzz, Italian startups and SMEs raised € 72.34 million through equity crowdfunding in 2022, compared to € 90.12 million in 2021 (-20%), financing 141 companies compared to 170 in the previous year (-17%).

The research excluded real estate (which has an entirely different trend) and investment vehicles, which will no longer be able to raise equity through crowdfunding platforms soon under European regulation.

Capital raised by Italian startups and SMEs through equity crowdfunding – source: CrowdfundingBuzz

In 2022, the number of campaigns launched by equity crowdfunding platforms dropped considerably (165 compared to 195 in 2021). Although the success rate decreased slightly (85.5% vs 87.1%), in absolute terms, the number of unsuccessful campaigns remained almost the same: 24 in 2022 and 25 in 2021.

The average capital raised by startups and SMEs decreased: € 513k in 2022 vs € 530k in 2021. In particular, SMEs raised slightly more on average (€ 32.6k in 2022 vs € 30.1k in 2021), while startups raised less in 2022, on average € 38.2k compared to € 56.4k in 2021.

Generally, companies aimed for and reached a more ambitious minimum fundraising target in 2022 (€ 246k vs 236k in 2021). On the other hand, overfunding, i.e. the share of funds raised over the minimum target, decreased to € 267k from € 294k in 2021.

In 2022, 80% of the funding (€ 57.6 million) was concentrated in 11 industries: Commerce € 11.5 million, Food & Beverage € 6.6 million, Industry € 6.3 million, Agriculture € 6.3 million, Energy & Cleantech € 6.1 million, Catering & Bars € 4.7 million, Hi-Tech Products € 4.7 million, Sport & Leisure € 3.1 million, IT € 2.9 million, Insurtech € 2.5 million, Tourism € 2.5 million.

Looking at the dynamics of the industries, those that grew the most were Trade (+€ 8.8 million), Industry (+€ 4.7 million), Hi-Tech Products (+€ 3.4 million), and Catering and Bars (+€ 1.7 million). On the other hand, those that fell the most were Fashion (-€ 6.1 million), Agriculture (-€ 4.9 million), Energy & Cleantech (-€ 3.4 million), and Biotech (-€ 3.2 million).

The average number of investors per campaign also decreased. In 2022, there were, on average, 82 investors per campaign compared to 99 in 2021. As a result, the average investment of each investor per campaign increased to € 6,200 from € 5,400 in 2021.

In 2022, 16 platforms closed at least one successful campaign, compared to 18 in 2021. Of these, 3 platforms launched a campaign for the first time in 2022 (Puzzle Funding, 2meet2biz and Re-Anima).

The market is even more concentrated: the first two platforms (Mamacrowd with € 31.2 million and Crowdfundme with € 22.5 million) represented 74% of the total market, compared to 55% in 2021.

In terms of performance, Crowdfundme grew the most (+€ 6.1 million, or 37% growth), followed by WeAreStarting (+€ 1.1 million, or 74% growth) and Starsup (+€ 0.9 million, which had no successful campaigns in 2021).


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For more info (in Italian) visit https://www.crowdfundingbuzz.it/la-raccolta-con-equity-crowdfunding-per-startup-e-pmi-rallenta-nel-2022-ma-cresce-rispetto-al-2020/ and https://www.crowdfundingbuzz.it/equity-crowdfunding-in-italia-infografica/