Despite the rising inflation and economic uncertainties, the Italian fintech sector appears to be thriving and attracting new resources. Attilio Mazzilli, partner lawyer responsible for the Italian Tech Group and member of the International Technology Companies Group at Orrick, highlights that the positive trend is not limited to well-known fintech companies like Satispay.
Other sectors, such as payment, insurtech, regtech (companies applying technological innovations to the regulatory sector), welltech, and blockchain, are also experiencing significant interest. According to “Startup Italia” data, the sector received around 996 million euros in investment in the first half of 2022. In Europe, the previous year concluded with a total investment of over 100 billion dollars, more than triple the amount invested in 2020. Orrick’s team has witnessed this trend first-hand. In 2021, it managed over 500 transactions worth 20 billion dollars and handled eight fintech rounds in the first half of 2022, surpassing a value of 850 million euros. “The competition among investors for the best deals was a trend that emerged last year, given the high liquidity in circulation”, explains Attilio Mazzilli. “Even in 2022, funds continued to have significant liquidity to invest, and there are no signs of change despite economic uncertainties”. Apart from well-established operators like Satispay and Scalapay, there are also new and exciting fintech companies to invest in. Bkn301, for example, is a company that emerged from the acquisition of the assets of the former Payment Institute of the Republic of San Marino. It aims to become a cross-border open-market operator in open banking and digital payments. Wallife, on the other hand, recently closed a 12 million dollars investment round and launched the first policy to protect digital identities.
Attilio Mazzilli acknowledges that there could be some difficulties in venture capital in the coming months. “The first half saw operations that were prepared beforehand, but the second half of the year could experience a slowdown of up to 10% for operations that are inevitably riskier”, he concludes. Nonetheless, the interest in fintech operations continues to remain high.
