In July 2025 the Annual report of the Crowdinvesting Observatory of the Polytechnic University of Milan. is now in its 10th year. An anniversary that coincides with a difficult time in the Italian crowdinvesting market, which in the past 12 months has seen a deepening of the contraction that had already begun in the previous year. 

In this article we analyze data from the polytechnic report to provide a complete picture of the crowdfunding situation in Italy and reflect on the causes and consequences of the phenomena that are occurring.

Overview of crowdinvesting in Italy 2024-2025

The report's data focus on crowdinvesting segments, or those forms of crowdfunding that give campaign participants the opportunity to earn a return of capital: lending, equity and debt crowdfunding.

The italian crowdinvesting market, thus composed, is going through a difficult period, with total collection shrinking over the past 12 months, from July 2024 to June 2025: total collection was 260.65 million, marking a 14% drop compared with the previous period. 

This decline affected, for the first time, almost all sectors, while last year the minus sign was concentrated in the equity sector.

The total cumulative value since the advent of crowdinvesting in Italy is about €1.57 billion: the fact that in other European countries, such as France, this figure is reached sometimes even in a single year makes us realize how much room for growth we still have. 

La drop in collection volume Is attributable to several factors, including: 

• The rise in interest rates
• Uncertainty in global markets pushing savers toward more liquid, less risky assets
• The introduction of the new ECSP regulation, which has led to a reduction in the overall number of platforms. Some players, in fact, have given up applying for authorization because of the administrative burden involved. However, as early as 2024 all major Italian platforms have now been licensed, so this element plays a weak role in the market downturn.

The polytechnic also notes some critical issues that require to be addressed to overcome this crisis:

• The poor growth of most crowdfunded businesses.
• The tendency to present overly optimistic business plans and thus struggle to reflect expectations
• The difficulty of creating a secondary market for investment
• The lack of growth in the crowdfunding for Minibonds Among SMEs, despite its valuable potential and low-to-medium level of risk
• The need to build more trust in the lending segment, which often lacks specific guarantees. 

As of June 30, 2025, 42 Italian platforms (plus one authorized in Spain) were authorized under the new ECSP Regulation, with Italy ranking second in Europe in the number of authorized portals, after France.

Equity crowdfunding changes face: less startups, more real estate

In the past 12 months, equity crowdfunding campaigns have raised 110.95 million, a value essentially unchanged from the previous period. Real estate projects showed significant growth (63.77 million euros, +32%), while non-real estate projects have not recovered from the distress already shown in the previous period, which is now accentuated (-19% in funding). 

Historically, the Choice between lending or equity crowdfunding for real estate saw the former favored over the latter, but in the past year equity seems to have regained attractiveness for real estate transactions.

A total of 160 equity crowdfunding campaigns were launched between 2024 and 2025, with a record 30.6% of real estate projects. The success rate remains high, around 88%. 

The average target fundraising value for non-real estate projects is €207,133, while for real estate projects it is €1,112,955. The common practice is to offer non-voting shares below a certain investment threshold, but the number of campaigns offering only non-voting shares is growing: these are key decisions for maintain governance.

Another novelty is that equity crowdfunding is less and less a tool that can be identified with only innovative startups. Indeed, among issuers, innovative startups continue to decline: they accounted for 28.6% in recent months. Growing proportion of SMEs and investment vehicles launching equity crowdfunding campaigns. 

Most of the broadcasters operate in Lombardy and in the information and communication services sector. 

Finally, Mamacrowd is the leading platform in terms of capital raised and number of campaigns.

After the campaign, only a minority of companies show significant growth in terms of revenues and margins; many fail to achieve the desired results and some are liquidated. Only a very small percentage succeed in exceeding the revenues projected in the initial business plan. This underscores the importance of Embed equity crowdfunding within a growth strategy overall and to leverage it not only as a tool for raising capital for the contingent need, but also as an asset for getting new customers, retaining existing ones and doing neworking.

The first crisis for lending crowdfunding

Lending crowdfunding until last year had been the leading sector of Italian crowdinvesting. Today it is also registering a negative sign.

The total collection for the business loans was from 142.05 million over the past 12 months. Both non-real estate and real estate projects have lost ground: respectively -1% and -18%. The historical cumulative funding is 646.70 million, of which the most significant part (529 million) is attributable to real estate. 

All the 391 lending crowdfunding campaigns launched, however, have ended successfully. What is lacking, however, is transparent and up-to-date data on the default and insolvency rate of companies after lending crowdfunding, and this is probably one of the elements to work on to foster investor confidence.

The average annual interest rate rose to 10.07% in the first half of 2025: the rise in interest rates has challenged companies in lending crowdfunding to offer higher-than-average returns on market rates, which they have struggled to sustain. The gradual decline in rates from 2025 onward should be a positive boost in this respect.

The average maturity of the loans is about 15 months, with repayment almost always by bullet.

Regarding platforms, Recrowd confirms itself as the market leader.

Many platforms complain about the lack of clarity and the Unequal treatment of lending crowdfunding from a tax perspective, which would penalize it compared to other comparable financial instruments: from several quarters came calls for regulatory intervention to bring the taxation of crowdlending income in line with that of other financial instruments, allowing platforms to act as a tax withholding agent at all times, rather than only in special cases as under current regulations.

Minibonds: an opportunity that does not take off

The placement of Minibonds offers valuable opportunities for SMEs, but it does not seem to be taking stable root among companies. 

Last year he had experienced a meteoric rise, due in part to the meager performances shown up to that point, but still remarkable.

In the past 12 months, however, the collection has stopped at 7.65 million, with a drop in the 73% compared with the previous period, and a historical cumulative of just 127.67 million.

This sector remains small and underdeveloped, as well as poorly manned: active platforms have been only Fundera and Opstart (through the Crowdbond division), although those authorized for Minibond placement number more than twenty. 

Focus Real Estate

The real estate crowdfunding sector has played a key role in sustaining the crowdinvesting market in Italy in recent years. However, it too is changing face: while it used to fly high in lending crowdfunding, it now seems to be reversing course.

In the past 12 months, projects funded in this sector have raised 181.76 million (-5.1%) and it is lending projects that have suffered (117.99 million), while equity projects have recovered ground (+32%, with 63.77 million). 

Real estate remains the sector on which more platforms choose to verticalize.

Crowd investors

The vast majority of investors (individuals and legal entities) participated in only one campaign. A finding that has been repeated over the years since the first Polytechnic report, and which supports our claim that the best investors are customers or potential customers Of the company sponsoring a crowdfunding campaign. 

Investors are almost never random users of a platform who choose two or three campaigns to invest in each year: they are users who already know the company and arrive on a platform specifically to invest in a specific project.

A gradual increase in female participation is observed, reaching 19%: still a minority figure, but up 3% from the previous year. The largest group of investors by age is between 36 and 40 years old.