FAQ

Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly valid and effective form of capital raising. Flexibility, speed, visibility, community engagement, and the democratization of finance are just a few of the advantages offered by a crowdfunding campaign. Each platform allows testing the validity of one's projects, exposing them to the impartial judgment of the online crowd, thus making contact with people who are difficult to reach with other tools. Beyond being merely a tool for raising capital, a crowdfunding platform can give great visibility to the proposing companies, which receive indirect marketing benefits.

Crowdfunding is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 7 October 2020, on European crowdfunding service providers for business.
In Italy, Legislative Decree No. 30 of 10 March 2023 allowed the adaptation of national legislation to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 concerning crowdfunding service providers.
Although the legislation has already come into force, the transitional regime applies until 10 November 2023. Under the transitional regime provided by the ECSP Regulation, crowdfunding platforms, already operational at the date of entry into force, have one year to comply with the new legislation, being able to continue operating according to national rules until 10 November 2023.
The Italian legislation has been, therefore, integrated by the second-level regulation with the Consob Regulation No. 22720 of 1 June 2023 on crowdfunding services, implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on crowdfunding service providers for businesses and Articles 4-sexies.1 and 100-ter of the TUF (in force since 12 June 2023).
Before the entry into force of the European regulations, equity crowdfunding was regulated by the "Regulation on capital raising through online portals" adopted with Consob Resolution No. 18592/2013, while lending crowdfunding was regulated in the "Provisions on savings collection by non-banking subjects" adopted with the Bank of Italy Resolution No. 584/2016.

Lending crowdfunding is a form of crowdfunding in which investors provide financing to individuals or businesses in exchange for a financial return in the form of interest or repayment of the capital lent.
In essence, investors act as money lenders and grant loans to people or businesses in need through an online crowdfunding platform. This form of collective financing is based on a loan agreement and involves the repayment of the amount lent along with the agreed interest over time. Lending crowdfunding offers both investors the opportunity to obtain a financial return and individuals or businesses access to funds without having to resort to traditional financial institutions.

Equity crowdfunding is a form of crowdfunding in which investors provide financing to companies in exchange for securities (ownership shares or company shares) rather than receiving interest or repayment of the capital lent.
In other words, investors become shareholders of the company to which they provide financing. This means they will participate in any future profits and losses of the company, as well as having a long-term interest in the growth and success of the business. Equity crowdfunding offers companies an alternative way of raising capital, allowing them to obtain funds from a wide base of online investors, without having to give up a significant ownership stake to a single investor or venture capitalist.
Recently, both of these forms of alternative finance have been referred to as crowdinvesting, to make the concept of investment, whether in the form of debt or equity, clearer both to businesses and individuals.

All projects are analyzed, studied, and verified by a group of sector experts (internal or external to the Ener2Crowd team) who validate the publication on the platform. We have Energy Service Companies as partners capable of supporting us in the most complex cases. Projects are analyzed from a technical-economic viewpoint, and the financial solidity of the Project Owner is evaluated. The goal is to propose on the platform only financially solid projects with a strong positive ecological impact.

Ener2Crowd retains a variable percentage from 4% to 7% on the capital raised, in addition to the cost of setting up the campaign on the website and a retention of 0.5% on the repayment of installments to investors. All these expenses are borne by the company promoting the campaign.

Ener2Crowd entrusts money transactions to a Payment Institute authorized by the Bank of France with a European passport named LemonWay. This company is now a leader in digital payments for crowdfunding platforms with almost 2 billion euros transacted in 2018. In Europe, Ener2Crowd acts with a direct mandate as Agent of the French Payment Institute LemonWay according to article 128 quater of the TUB, at number 6.

A hallmark of our platform is absolute transparency: we make all information and our analyses on the projects public. Community, Future, and Sustainability are the pillars on which Ener2Crowd is based. Unlike other platforms, from generalist to real estate ones, we make it accessible for everyone to take part in the most important and challenging mission of our time: to actively participate in the energy transition towards a completely circular and sustainable economy.

If it is an instant transfer, it can be displayed in your Wallet in about 48 hours.
If it is not an instant transfer, it will take a few days to be displayed in your Wallet.
If there are any display issues, please contact support@ener2crowd.com to resolve the issue.

To withdraw money (Cash Out), it is necessary to enable the Cash Out procedure. To do this, you will have to manually enter your IBAN in the appropriate section and upload a Bank Document (for example, a screenshot of the home banking or the first page of a bank statement).
Remember that the IBAN entered for this operation must be in the name of the same person to whom the Wallet is registered, joint accounts are also accepted. It will be necessary to wait a few hours for the validation and activation of the Cash Out.
Operationally, once the Cash Out is enabled, to send money to your bank account you will have to click on the "Withdraw" button, which is located in the section dedicated to your Wallet in the Reserved Area.
The money will arrive in your account within the time frame of a traditional bank transfer, which varies depending on the bank. 

Once a digital wallet is opened and loaded via bank transfer or credit card, the amount of your money will be ready to be invested. When you invest in a project, your money moves from your wallet to that of the proposing company. The proposing company's wallet is opened and managed by the Ener2Crowd team, in this way the proposer cannot withdraw money from their wallet at any time. Once the campaign is concluded, the capital is unlocked to the company to develop the project, and the payment of installments to investors begins, according to the signed financing contract.

In the event of the company's liquidation, all payments and financing contracts remain valid and active as the flow of money is managed by an external Payment Institute named LemonWay, which ensures all financial transactions.

Every investor is required to complete the following registration steps: 

• Filling in personal details;
• Anti-money laundering questionnaire;
• Identification;
• Classification;
• Filling in personal details;
• Appropriateness questionnaire;
• Loss simulation test.

Are all registration steps mandatory?
The only non-mandatory questionnaire is the appropriateness questionnaire, but it is important to fill it out in any case. Indeed, it helps you verify that the investments you want to make are in line with your knowledge and experience.
The test helps to increase the investor's awareness in their choices.

To proceed with the registration, you need to have at hand:
For individuals:

• An identity document or passport in jpeg or pdf format.

For legal entities:

• An identity document or passport in jpeg or pdf format of the legal representative;
• An identity document or passport in jpeg or pdf format of the beneficial owners;
• Company registration document;
• Balance sheet (only in case of sophisticated investor).

Note: for the identification of the investor (both individuals and legal entities), it is necessary to have a camera (of the phone or computer) available to take an identification selfie.

To ensure adequate protection for the different categories of investors participating in crowdfunding projects while facilitating investment flows, Regulation 2020/1503 distinguishes between sophisticated and non-sophisticated investors and introduces differentiated levels of safeguarding to protect investors, appropriate for each of these categories.
Sophisticated investors are treated the same as professional investors as defined under Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID). Therefore, all investors can be qualified as:
• Professional investors;
• Sophisticated investors;
• Non-sophisticated investors.

Who are sophisticated investors?
A sophisticated investor is an investor who is aware of the risks associated with investing in capital markets and has adequate resources to bear such risks without being exposed to excessive financial consequences.
Sophisticated investors can be classified as such if they meet the following identification criteria:
Legal entities that meet AT LEAST ONE of the following criteria:
a) own funds of at least 100,000 EUR;
b) net turnover of at least 2,000,000 EUR;
c) balance sheet total of at least 1,000,000 EUR.
Individuals that meet AT LEAST TWO of the following criteria:
a) personal gross income of at least 60,000 EUR per tax year, or a portfolio of financial instruments, including cash deposits and financial assets, valued at more than 100,000 EUR;
b) the investor works or has worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position which requires knowledge of the transactions or services envisaged, or the investor has held an executive position for at least 12 months in the legal entity as defined above;
c) the investor has carried out transactions of significant size on capital markets at an average frequency of 10 transactions per quarter over the four previous quarters.

According to the European Regulation 2020/1503, a non-sophisticated investor is defined as someone "who is not a sophisticated investor."
Therefore, it is a merely residual definition used to identify the retail investor, i.e., someone who does not meet certain financial and professional requirements.
The legislator's intent is to verify the degree of financial knowledge of such investors so that they can make informed investment choices. With the aim of protecting the non-sophisticated investor, an enhanced appropriateness assessment is therefore presented, along with a simulation regarding the ability to sustain losses.
Every investor falling into this category receives a risk warning before making investments and is required to provide explicit consent, demonstrating an understanding of the investment and its associated risks.

Absolutely, it is enough to write an email to support@ener2crowd.com. As soon as your email is received, your investor status will change, and you will be able to proceed with filling out the appropriateness questionnaire.

The financial products marketed on crowdfunding platforms are not the same as traditional investment or savings products and should not be marketed as such. However, to ensure that potential non-sophisticated investors understand the level of risk associated with crowdfunding investments, Ener2Crowd is required to perform an entry test to verify the potential non-sophisticated investors' understanding of such investments. For this reason, Ener2Crowd adopts reasonable measures to ensure that the information collected from potential non-sophisticated investors is reliable and accurately reflects their knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as their financial situation, investment objectives, and basic understanding of the associated risks.
Through the appropriateness questionnaire, Ener2Crowd verifies that the investment matches the investor's knowledge and experience characteristics as determined by the answers provided in the questionnaire. For this reason, information is collected during registration with the questionnaire.

As soon as we have the authorization to offer the Electronic Bulletin Board service as anticipated by the Regulation, it will be possible to propose the transfer of the investment. We believe that a secondary market is of vital importance for a crowdfunding platform like ours, and therefore it is among our priorities for future developments.

FOR FINANCINGS TO ITALIAN LEGAL ENTITIES
In accordance with current regulations, the tax rules relating to proceeds from loans granted through peer-to-peer platforms currently do not allow Payment Institute Agents to act as tax substitutes, consequently each investor must declare such income independently. It should be noted that the income must be declared regardless of whether the sum is deposited in the Ener2Crowd account or transferred to one's personal account. Specifically, individuals not engaged in business activities (thus not registered on the portal with a VAT number), must declare gross income received through the 730 form or the Personal Income Tax form, while individuals engaged in business activities, companies, and entities will declare such proceeds as business income. For more details on the declaration procedure, we recommend consulting your accountant or tax advisor.
The withholding taxes applied will be as follows:

For NON-residents of Italy:
• Under business regime: application of a definitive withholding tax equal to 26%.
• Not under business regime: application of a definitive withholding tax equal to 26%.
For residents of Italy:
• Under business regime: application of a withholding tax as an advance payment equal to 0%.
• Not under business regime: application of a withholding tax as an advance payment equal to 26%.

Within your Reserved Area, in the Taxation section, you can download the inquiry and the resolution of the Revenue Agency related to this topic. 

FOR FINANCINGS TO SPANISH LEGAL ENTITIES
In accordance with current regulations, the tax regime provides that the financed legal entity applies a withholding tax.

For NON-residents of Spain:
• If you are an individual: application of a definitive withholding tax equal to 19%.
• If you are a legal entity: application of a definitive withholding tax equal to 19%.
For residents of Spain:
• If you are an individual: application of a withholding tax as an advance payment equal to 19%.
• If you are a legal entity: application of a withholding tax as an advance payment equal to 19%.

Projects on Ener2Crowd undergo rigorous analysis, including the solidity of the proposer to repay the loan. As with any investment portfolio, the best method is always to diversify by distributing one's budget across different types of projects. With this method, even those who invest in complex financial products can always mitigate the risk inherent in the concept of investment itself. There is no such thing as zero risk in the world of investments.

The duration of projects can vary from 1 to 7 years. Until a secondary market is implemented, your invested capital cannot be requested before the end of the financing contract, unless provided for by the proposing company. Read the financing contract to find all this information.

Despite the in-depth analyses we conduct before publishing our projects, it's possible that a company may fail to repay the debt. The financing contract is governed by Italian Law and, if not respected, in addition to the application of default interest, the investor has the right to take legal action against the proposer.

• Exit strategy IPO (Initial Public Offering)
  An IPO exit strategy allows early investors to reap gains from their investment when a private company goes public through an Initial Public Offering (IPO). When a company becomes public through an IPO, it enables its early investors to sell their shares and realize a return on these after the company's shares are listed on the Stock Exchange.
• Profit strategy: dividend distribution
  A profit strategy, also known as Profit Strategy, consists of earning profit from the distribution of dividends by the Project Owner company. The distribution of dividends to shareholders is generally proportional to the share of participation in the company.
• Exit Strategy: consists of selling the acquired shares
  An exit strategy, also known as Exit Strategy, is possible when a fund, a large investor, or a larger company decides to buy the entire company and thus purchases all the shares of the shareholders.
• Liquidation Strategy
  Profit is realized through the distribution of the net liquidation equity upon the dissolution of the company, proportional to one's share.

In the context of equity investments, direct shareholding refers to the practice of registering the ownership of shares or stakes in a company directly in the name of the investor, rather than through intermediaries.
In the financial context, direct shareholding is often used to ensure that the owner of the shares or stakes is clearly identified in the records of the Project Owner company. This can be particularly important for ensuring transparency and traceability of share ownership, especially in cases of ownership transfers, voting rights, and dividend distribution.

Pre-money valuation refers to the valuation of a company before it raises new capital from third-party investments, such as venture capital or business angels. It is determined by a subjective evaluation based on factors such as revenue, profits, growth potential, and competition.
The pre-money valuation determines the amount of equity to be given up to each person who chooses to participate in the financing operation.
It is, therefore, a starting point to know, once investments have been raised through the capital increase, the corporate share. The new value after crowdfunding is called post-money valuation. The post-money value is the value of a company after a financing round. It is determined by adding the pre-money value to the amount of financing raised.

In the financial context, a premium can also refer to the difference between the issuance price of a security (such as shares and stakes) and its nominal value or its market value at the time of issuance. In this case, the premium represents the premium paid by the investor over the intrinsic value of the security.
In general, a premium is therefore the additional cost that a buyer is willing to pay over the base price to obtain a certain stake or share.

The value of shares or stocks of a company for the subscription of new issue shares during a capital increase is determined by adding a premium to the nominal value.
This is usually referred to as the Issue Value, which is the actual cost borne by the investor intending to subscribe to a capital increase. Normally, an issue premium is established, leading to an issue price often much higher than the nominal value.

Ener2Crowd's commission is 2% on every equity investment made through the platform.

It's possible to propose any project that has a positive impact on the environment: Energy efficiency projects (CHP, heat pumps, electric motors, ORC plants, etc.) Renewable energy projects (photovoltaic, solar thermal, hydroelectric, wind, biogas, geothermal, etc.) Residential projects (building energy efficiency, plant energy efficiency, etc.) Sustainable projects (electric mobility, transportation electrification, etc.).

We have implemented 4 types of financing within our platform:

• Long-term financing with a fixed installment and fixed interest
• Long-term financing with a variable installment and fixed interest
• Short-term bullet financing with interest due at the end
• Short-term bullet financing with capital due at the end

The imposed limit is equal to 5 million euros collected for each project over 12 months.

The economic needs of the proposing company cannot be exclusively collected through crowdfunding. The proposing company must be financially solid and have its own funds.

Our team is made up of engineers and economists in the energy sector who can help you develop your sustainable project. Moreover, we can put you in contact with the largest Italian ESCos and Utilities.

In the initial phase, simple information about the project is necessary: business plan, installed technology, generated savings, and involved companies. In a later phase, more information on the project and the company will be requested (business registration, latest financial statements, financial structure of the project, etc). It is possible to propose your project to Ener2Crowd and upload all necessary documents at this LINK.