Urbanitae, a Spanish Crowdfunding Portal Launches in Italy

The Spanish real estate crowdfunding platform Urbanitae arrives in Italy, with the aim of positioning itself among the main players in the sector in the short term.

Since the start of its activity in June 2019, proptech has financed more than 130 projects in Spain for a value of over 240 million euros, equal to more than 60% of the volume transacted by participatory financing in the country.

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Urbanitae financing model

Urbanitae’s participatory financing model brings together small and medium savers to invest in properties (residential, commercial and industrial) and benefit from high returns. Through a completely digital and very simple process, the investment can start from 500 euros for operations normally accessible only to professional investors. For developers, Urbanitae aims to offer an agile and liquid financing alternative for projects not covered by banks.

Urbanitae, specialized in real estate crowdfunding projects between 2 and 5 million euros, is mainly based on two financing formulas. 65% of operations are structured according to the equity or capital gain format, in which investors become shareholders of the special purpose vehicle responsible for executing the project.

This category also includes income projects, which, in addition to the final capital gain, also offer the investor periodic returns with low risk. The remaining 35% corresponds to debt projects, with the provision of a credit line for developers for the financing of real estate projects of up to 5 million euros.

The objectives in Italy

In Italy, Urbanitae expects to reach a volume of up to 50 million euros of funded projects in its first year of activity. Leading the team will be Carlo Magnoni, a real estate professional for over 20 years, already linked to investment funds such as Blackstone and Stoneweg, where he was responsible for acquisitions for Italy and Portugal. In the real estate sector, he was head of capital markets at proptech Casafari, and is a director and member of the board of directors of Carlyle’s residential investment companies in Spain, as well as other real estate companies in Italy and Spain.

After starting the internationalization process last December, with the launch of activities in France and Portugal, Urbanitae is now focusing on Italy.

“We believe – said Diego Bestard, CEO and founding partner of Urbanitae – that the experience acquired in Spain and the good results of the model we have consolidated will allow us to achieve a relevant position in the Italian market. This is a further step towards our goal of becoming the leading European real estate participatory financing platform within two years.”

“Although the phenomenon of real estate crowdfunding is more recent in Italy than in other European countries – added Carlo Magnoni – it has been growing in recent years. We at Urbanitae are committed to ensuring that crowdfunding continues to grow as a source of financing for local developers.”

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(Featured image by  moerschy via Pixabay)

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First published in Il Sole 24 Ore. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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