CEOs speak: equity crowdfunding not just for raising capital

Equity crowdfunding is a tool for raising capital that allows a large numberofpeople to invest online in companies, startups and SMEs, obtaining in exchange shares in the company, and therefore becoming full members.

Our country wasa pioneer in Europein regulating this type of capital raising, thanks to a dedicated Consob regulation that authorizes the main Italian equity crowdfunding platforms.

From2014 to date, the market has grown exponentiallyfrom one million raised in 2014, with 4 campaigns launched, to over 36 million euros in 2018 distributed across 113 projects. Today, a quarter of the 207 companies that have chosen this way of raising capital have organized their online fundraising on Mamacrowd.

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The participation of investors, which rose to almost 10 thousand in 2018, is not only aimed at providing capital - essential for the growth processes of these companies - but also to expand the strategic network, the business possibilities and to facilitate new business opportunities. This is confirmed by the analysis of CEOs who, after having closed a successful campaign on Mamacrowd, analyze its scope and the profiles of new members.

And this is exactly what Chiara Rota, CEO of My Cooking Box, says:"Crowdfunding is probably still a medium that creates doubts and fears: in fact, doing crowdfunding means always being available to share your ideas and to demonstrate to potential investors the validity of your project, it means dedicating part of your time to develop and follow every step of the fundraising campaign. However, crowdfunding is not only this: many satisfactions and many opportunities can be seized, not only in economic terms but also in terms of visibility.
The many investors feel an integral part of the company, they believe in the project and want to support its success: so each investor, more or less,dedicates their time not only to share opinions and points of view but also to offer many new contacts to expand the visibility and opportunities of the company they support. For My Cooking Box, the key to success has been precisely this: not only have the pre-set objectives been achieved, but many important companies have interfaced with our reality with interest".

And he continues:"Crowdfunding today should not be seen as the last resort to obtain funding but a great opportunity to be seized and make use of: with the investment obtained, we at My Cooking Box have been able not only to plan the opening of a flagship store but also to expand our sales area,creating an excellent basis for interfacing with the foreign market and its many facets. "

Salvatore Cobuzio, founder & CEO of the leading European e-commerce of wedding accessories, says:"For Martha's Cottage the one with Mamacrowd was the first crowdfunding and it was certainly a success.In just over two months we have raised more than double what we had set out to raise and the campaign has generated many new connections and opportunities for future growth. This funding is crucial to supportmarketingactivitiesaimed at expanding the customer base and stimulate growth at an international level, accelerating development in Italy and Europe. Today we generate 20% of our revenues abroad and our goal for 2020 is to increase this figure to 85%. This fundraising represents a bridge towards further and decisive funding that will allow us to make the dimensional leap from startup to scaleup. It is a step we are aiming at and for which we are also evaluating the proposals of some industrial investors".

Matteo Bonicelli, CEO & Founder of ShapeMe, the company that offers professional massages at home, comments on the campaign that closed with a 168% overfunding: "The experience with equity crowdfunding and Mamacrowd has been very positive. It has allowed us to raise essential capital to speed up our growth, it has given visibility to our services by generating contacts, negotiations and clients, and it has expanded our professional network. Mamacrowd has been of great support during the whole process: from the preparation of the communication material for the campaign to the support in the operational management of the campaign itself".

More than 250 thousandraised and visibility above expectations also for Andrea Carpineti, CEO ofDesign Italian Shoesthe platform that exports the art of footwear made in Italy all over the world:".The collection on Mamacrowd was above our expectations, both in terms of capital and visibility. Maximum professionalism and support from the entire Mamacrowd team, who guided us to prepare a winning equity crowdfunding campaign. With the investment received, the company will continue in the international development of the project and will release the foot scanning app.”

Ester Liquori, CEO of GhostWriter, a marketing strategy platform based on artificial intelligence, highlights the success of the campaign and the remarkable results obtained in terms of business development: " Theinvestment received will allow us to expand our service on the market and to further improve our proprietary Artificial Intelligence and semantic systems. A boost to R&D and Marketing and Communication activities also possible thanks to the excellent network created with the investors who have joined the company.
Ours is an extremely innovative sector. Our B2B service is research applied to business. The equity crowdfunding campaign has given visibility to the service being launched, attracting commercial opportunities".

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