Crowdfunding, the Spanish Urbanitae lands in Italy

Spanish real estate crowdfunding platform Urbanitae lands in Italy, with the aim of positioning itself in the short term among the main players in the sector. Since its start of operations in June 2019, the proptech has financed more than 130 projects in Spain worth more than 240 million eurox, representing more than 60% of the volume transacted by equity financing in the country.

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

Urbanitae, which specialises in real estate crowdfunding projects between EUR 2 and 5 million, relies mainly on two financing formulas. 65% of transactions are in the equity or capital gain format, in which investors become shareholders of the special purpose vehicle responsible for the execution of the project. This category also includes income projects, which, in addition to the final capital gain, also offer the investor low-risk periodic returns. The remaining 35% corresponds to debt projects, with the provision of a credit line for developers to finance real estate projects of up to EUR 5 million.

n Italy, Urbanitae expects to reach a volume of up to EUR 50 million in financed projects in its first year of activity. Leading the team will be Carlo Magnoni, a real estate professional for over 20 years, formerly 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 board member of Carlyle's residential investment companies in Spain, as well as other real estate companies in Italy and Spain.

After starting the internationalisation 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 we have gained 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 equity financing platform within two years'.