Finanziamenti

Record funding in the year of the pandemic: risks, opportunities, and challenges for innovative companies

Record funding in the year of the pandemic: risks, opportunities, and challenges for innovative companies

+€0million

for debt financing

+€0million

for investments in risk capital

+€0million

non-repayable grants

[1]

This are the funds allocated in the various decrees issued between March and November 2020 (Cura Italia, Liquidità, Rilancio, Agosto and Ristori) to benefit Italian innovative companies. In addition to this, there is also capital from measures aimed at encouraging equity investments (increase in IRPEF tax deductions for investments by individuals in the share capital of innovative startups and SMEs) and at facilitating R&D and training activities for tax purposes (expansion and extension of the rules for the recognition of tax credits for companies). These latest measures have the explicit objective of further increasing the liquidity of the Italian innovation ecosystem.

Potential liquidity which, unfortunately, companies often fail to translate into actual liquidity, due to the inability and/or lack of time of the (few) managerial figures who are usually involved in this type of company, too busy managing operations and often not adequately supported by their consultants and accountants.

The Italian innovation sector is small: it is growing fast (+16.1% innovative startups and SMEs registered per year on average from 2017 to 2019), and has clear strategic importance for the future competitiveness of our nation, but nonetheless it is small. As of Q2 2020 the sector accounts for a total of 13,764 registered companies (3.8% of the total number of recently established corporations [2]) for a total production value of approximately 5.492 billion euros (9.28% of the total production value of recently established corporations) – Fonte MISE.

It is clear, therefore, that an accountant who, on average, looks after around 43 companies per year [3] of which, statistically, not even one is innovative (only one company is every 100 is), is not enough on their own. For a market with such atypical characteristics, regulations and financial interlocutors, a player with vertical skills and specific experience of the sector is needed. The challenge is to provide entrepreneurs with the most suitable financial instruments they need to grow and internationalise their companies, keeping pace with the times and, indeed, anticipating them where possible.

Therefore, a new kind of professional is needed, capable of taking up this challenge and accompanying Italy in its slow and inexorable digital and 4.0 transition, a process which has been accelerated in many ways by the dynamics of the current pandemic. The kind of professional who is needed is ‘transversal’ with respect to the sectors and the stage of life of the companies, with knowledge of the fundamentals of scalable growth and structured finance and who has the right mix of legal and tax skills.

BizPlace is a candidate to play this role thanks to expertise, vertical in the world of venture capital, which have been gained from years of activity and results with more than 400 innovative startups and SMEs.

“It is time for innovative Italian companies to step out of their comfort zone and aspire to significant national and international results by using finance to achieve their goals,” says Andrea Bonabello, CFO of the company.

“Those who rely on us do so for support, both strategic and operational, in the management of their capital increase; for drafting their financial plan and determining the company valuation; for tracking their growth KPIs for the purposes of better internal management control and more accurate and timely reporting to their investing partners; and finally, for end-to-end support in extraordinary finance transactions such as mergers or acquisitions with other target companies and the sale or listing of their own on the AIM and PRO segments of the Italian Stock Exchange.”

[1] Debt financing: Nuova Sabatini, Smart&Start, Fondo di Garanzia

Investments in risk capital: (Fondo di sostegno al Venture Capital, pubblicato lo scorso 19 novembre in Gazzetta Ufficiale)

Non-repayable grants: Voucher Innovation Manager e altri servizi dedicati alle startup e alle PMI innovative

[2] Companies established less than 5 years ago

[3] Source: 2019 Report on the Register of Certified Public Accountants