Ener2Crowd

Ener2Crowd is a Milan-based financial technology company, established in 2018, that operates Italy's premier crowdinvesting platform for sustainable projects. The company was founded by Niccolò Sovico (CEO), Giorgio Mottironi (CSO), Sergio Pedolazzi, and Paolo Baldinelli, a team of professionals united by a passion for renewable energy and a goal to address climate change. The concept originated in 2017 when CEO Niccolò Sovico, leveraging his background in engineering and experience in an Energy Service Company, identified the high returns of industrial sustainability investments and sought to make them accessible to the public.

Operating as a Benefit Society since 2021, Ener2Crowd's business model integrates both lending and equity crowdfunding, enabling it to channel funds from retail and institutional investors to companies engaged in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental sustainability. The platform functions as a digital marketplace where investors can browse and fund vetted projects. For lending crowdfunding, investors provide loans to companies and receive their principal back with interest. Through equity crowdfunding, investors acquire shares in the companies, becoming part-owners. Revenue is generated by retaining a variable percentage of the capital raised for each project and a small percentage on the repayment of installments to investors. For investors, there are no costs for opening an account or managing the financing, though a small percentage on the interest they perceive is retained to remunerate monitoring activities.

The firm serves a dual client base: companies (proposers) seeking alternative financing for green initiatives and a community of over 18,000 investors, termed "GreenVestors," who are interested in generating financial returns while making a positive environmental impact. The platform meticulously vets each project, providing a proprietary "EnerScore" to indicate the investment's risk level, ensuring transparency. All financial transactions are managed securely through the European Payment Institute LemonWay. To date, the platform has facilitated the collection of over €49 million for green projects, with more than €19 million already returned to investors. The company is authorized and supervised by CONSOB (the Italian National Commission for Companies and the Stock Exchange) and the Bank of Italy, operating under the European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) Regulation.

Keywords: green lending crowdfunding, equity crowdinvesting, sustainable finance, renewable energy projects, energy efficiency investment, impact investing, climate tech finance, fintech, ESG investing, peer-to-peer lending, financial technology, Italian startup, alternative finance, community investing, CO2 reduction, green economy, project financing, environmental sustainability, crowdinvesting platform, ethical investment, benefit society