Equity crowdfunding: an opportunity to accelerate business development

Caricami provides one of the most heartfelt services, that of always being connected and always being able to count on the use of our smartphone through a network of charging stations and power banks that are always available.

Born in 2019, with Caricami we have continued to expand our network of charging stations and today we are ready to become the Italian reference point for mobile charging. This is an ambitious project for which we have decided to launch our first equity crowdfunding campaign.

But what is it about? What is crowdfunding and how is it different from the usual online fundraisers?

What is equity crowdfunding

Equity crowdfunding is a recent opportunity for investors, businesses and their growth. Equity crowdfunding can be considered a subset of the large umbrella that includes collective financing, literally translated as crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding was born and developed online; due to its characteristics, it would be impossible to carry out similar “fundraising” without the web. Crowdfunding takes place through web platforms that connect projects looking for funding and investors. On these platforms, start-ups can showcase their projects and investment campaigns. On the other hand, investors can choose the projects they consider most promising and provide liquidity.

With Caricami we have chosen to rely on a particular method of crowdfunding: equity crowdfunding.

How does equity crowdfunding work?

When an investor provides liquidity to a start-up or project, he expects to get something back. What we could define as a “reward” can be of different nature: for new technologies, for example, investors receive a preview of the product developed and financed by the crowdfunding campaign itself. With so-called donation crowdfunding, on the other hand, the investor does not receive any reward: these are non-profit fundraising campaigns which generally support an important cause.

With equity crowdfunding, on the other hand, the investor who provides liquidity acquires a small share of the company or start-up. He becomes, to all intents and purposes, a partner. The share of the company, proportional to the sum supplied to the investment campaign, constitutes the reward.

Equity crowdfunding: what does the investor get?

What does the start-up get through its equity crowdfunding campaign? The capital you need to develop products, projects, expand, or make other types of investments.

What does the investor get by acquiring a share and becoming a shareholder in the company? A possible financial return, obtainable from capital gains deriving from the sale of the stake acquired or any dividends (in line with the provisions of the legislation).

In particular, those who decide to invest in innovative start-ups, such as Caricami, obtain tax benefits, as provided for by article 29 of Legislative Decree 179/2012:

• for individuals, a deduction from the gross IRPEF tax equal to 30% of the amount invested, up to a maximum of 1 million euro, i.e. a maximum savings achievable equal to 300,000 euro/year. If the amount of the deduction exceeds the gross annual tax, the excess can be credited within the following 3 years.
• for legal entities, deduction from the IRES taxable amount equal to 30% of the invested amount, up to a maximum of Euro 1.8 million per year, considering the IRES rate at 24%, resulting in a maximum IRES saving per year of 129,600 euros. If the deduction is higher than the total income declared, the excess can be calculated as an increase in the amount deductible from the total income of the following tax periods no later than the third, up to the amount.

Equity crowdfunding: is it safe?

An investment in equity crowdfunding has the same risks as any investment. As happens when investing in the stock market, the value of a share on the market can go down as well as up. To prevent this risk, it is good to choose to invest in solid projects, which declare their specific objective, and which have a company behind them, even if young – because in most cases we are talking about start-ups or small businesses – with solid systems and who has already demonstrated that they know how to complete their projects.

Caricami, for example, has only been active since 2019, but we are already present in 7 Italian regions with our charging stations (despite, it should be emphasized, the difficulties and slowdowns due to the pandemic).

Furthermore, the level of security of crowdfunding campaigns is given by the platforms themselves. The best known equity crowdfunding platforms, such as BacktoWork, carry out checks and checks on the companies and projects they propose before launching their campaigns on their platforms.

How do you invest in an equity crowdfunding campaign?

To participate in an equity crowdfunding campaign as an investor, you will need to open an account on one of the platforms dedicated to this service. For our first campaign, we chose BacktoWork, a platform created with the will and objective of supporting the Italian economic and entrepreneurial ecosystem, encouraging the flow of finance to small businesses in innovative ways.

It is a 100% Italian platform, owned by Intesa Sanpaolo, whose code of ethics aligns with the same principles that drive our business.

To invest in BacktoWork, the first thing to do – in addition to creating your own account – is to go to the Equity Crowdfunding section. Here, all active fundraising campaigns are visible. For each campaign, a wealth of information is available regarding the company launching the campaign, their project, their goals and all the details related to the funding they are looking for.

Once you have selected a project, you can finally invest.

Are there any fees to pay?

BacktoWork does not withhold any percentage or fixed cost from investors who decide to subscribe to shares in a company.

Why did we decide to launch our first equity crowdfunding campaign?

With Caricami we have decided to open an investment round through equity crowdfunding to finance our expansion project for the next 5 years. We want to become the reference point in Italy for mobile charging. Having already demonstrated an effective and rapid expansion capacity, and with a great market potential, the investment in our project represents an important opportunity for the investors who decide to support us.

Our equity crowdfunding campaign is online on BacktoWork, visit the page to find out all the information!