Intesa Sanpaolo has dipped into its EUR100 million Finventures fund to take a stake in Italian equity crowdfunding site BacktoWork24.
An online venture capital fundraising portal, BacktoWork24 fosters investment in startups, SMEs and real estate projects from private and professional investors using an equity crowdfunding model.
The investment by Intesa Sanpaolo marks the Italian bank's first move into the crowdfunding sector. The firm says it intends to work collaboratively with BacktoWork24 on joint projects that can help grow the country's SME and startup ecosystem.
Maurizio Montagnese, head of Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center and chairman of Neva Finventures, says: “Neva Finventures’ investment in BacktoWork24 will allow us to gain a front-row view of the equity crowdfunding market’s trends and develop projects that look to elevate and complete the range of solutions available to startups.”