Italy Crowd, an investment platform focused on Real Estate offerings, has shut down. Italy Crowd was reportedly the first platform of its kind in Italy.
Last year, Italy Crowd withdrew its application from the CONSAB (the securities regulator in Italy) to issue securities under the new EU securities crowdfunding rules. ECSPR, or European Crowdfunding Provider Regulations, was an EU-level initiative to enable platforms to list and offer securities across all member states. At that time, Italy Crowd said it had partnered with Bridge Asset, a platform that the new rules had already approved, to expedite the process. Apparently, the partnership did not proceed.
Founded by Augusto Vechhi, he announced in a blog post the closure of this firm:
“On several occasions, I have been called the “father of real estate crowdfunding”, but now the time has come for Italy Crowd Srl to leave Real Estate Lending to focus on the acceleration of startups and events such as Fintech Awards Italia.” [translated]
Crowdfunding Buzz reported that Italy Crowd had struggled in past years, not generating any revenue in the past 14 months – mainly due to the economic environment.
Vecchi is quoted in the report, sharing:
“It’s been an intense 10 years. We started as absolute pioneers of Italian real estate crowdfunding, taking on numerous challenges to make this innovative financial instrument understood as a valid alternative to traditional investments. Then, with the arrival of other platforms, we’ve all experienced years of growth and satisfaction .” [translated]
He added that one of the reasons he was exiting the platform was due to the complexity of complying with the new rules. While the Italy Crowd site is no longer live, Bridge Asset remains live, but it is not clear if it is listing any securities.