A 400,000 EUR CAPITAL INCREASE FOR ’GROWISH’
Milan, May 22, 2017 – Growish, the innovative Fintech SME, a leader in Italy as concerns group digital payments, closed a 400,000 EUR capital increase, subscribed by Club degli Investitori, the largest regional network of business angels in Italy and by Banca Sella Holding. The capital increase has also involved the founders, the investors R301 Capital, a Swiss technological venture firm, and Antonino Pisana, who together had invested 500,000 EUR in 2014, and the business angel Lodovico Rosnati.
This transaction will allow Growish to strengthen its position on the Italian market, broaden the product range with new fintech e-wallet based solutions and social marketing B2C and B2B2C (aimed at consumers and businesses) – via API or SaaS platform – for the purpose of group payments and gift lists with multi-channel convergence (both online and in stores) for the sectors of travel, retail, e-commerce, banking, sharing economy, community and donation and to focus on internationalisation.
Growish was founded in 2014 by Claudio Cubito (CEO), Domingo Sarmiento Lupo (CTO) and Digital Magics, business incubator listed on the AIM market of the Italian Stock Exchange (symbol: DM), which supports the innovative SME with its acceleration and incubation services aimed at the company’s growth.
Growish has handled payment transactions totalling more than 3 million EUR by more than 30,000 users, ensuring its place as one of the leaders of the Italian Fintech sector and is growing by 150% in comparison to the same period for the previous year, thanks to the brands Growish.com (www.growish.com, online collections), ListaNozzeOnline.com (www.listanozzeonline.com, online wedding lists) and thanks to the partnership with LastMinute.com (with group gifts for flights and holidays vouchers), Uvet Travel Network (with an innovative e-wallet based platform aimed at the management of wedding lists for more than 1,000 travel agencies) and FantaCalcio-online.it (with group gathering of quotas for the “common potâ€).
In 2016 Growish was a finalist of Che Banca! Italian Fintech Award, it was awarded second prize at the Salone dei Pagamenti and won the stage dedicated to fintech of the ING Challenge Tour.
Through technology platforms and APIs, developed by Growish, it is possible to manage a group collection of money for any desire, to enable social payments for group purchases and to create gift lists for every occasion, both online and in stores, with an innovative e-wallet based technology. Payments can be made by credit card, bank transfer, rechargeable credit or at the store. At the end of the operation it is possible to transfer money into one’s bank account, to purchase products and services or to use the money collected as payment in P2P or P2B mode.
The Growish team consists of 7 professionals besides founders Claudio Cubito and Domingo Sarmiento Lupo; Additional members joining the team were:Â Lorenzo Colombini, full stack developer, Gaia Riccardi, front-end developer, Caterina Pancotti, customer service manager and social media manager, Caterina Caldara, Manager of the platform and of relationships with travel agencies, and Miriam Bastia, digital marketing strategist.
“This round of funding is the culmination of the hard work we have done in the first three years of activity – says Claudio Cubito, Founder and CEO of Growish – and we would like to thank Club degli Investitori and Banca Sella who believed in us. Our aim is to reach 15 million EUR a year in transacted amounts within the next 12 months, to strengthen our leadership in Italy in the field of digital group payments. We also want to expand overseas using our expertise in offering fintech solutions aimed at both consumers and businesses, for group payments and gift lists”.
“We are very pleased to have concluded this operation” – says Giancarlo Rocchietti, Chairman of the Club degli Investitori – For us this is the first investment in the fintech field and we are glad we invested on a company born and raised with the support of Digital Magics, Banca Sella and with a very concrete and professional team.”
“The main driver of the Open Banking is the sharing economy – said Pietro Sella, CEO of the Banca Sella Group – All business models based on some kind of crowd contribution (from crowdfunding to B2B2C up to the digitisation of the supply chain) require a new way to connect to financial and banking services. There is need for many-to-many connections and new types of payments. Also for these reasons, as Banca Sella Holding, we wanted to participate in the capital increase of Growish”.
“The entry of such important investors in our startup confirms the excellent path of growth performed by Growish, thanks to the partnership and to the ‘Open Innovation’ programs underway with the Uvet Group and Banca Sella” – says Gabriele Ronchini, Founder and Managing Director of Digital Magics for Portfolio Development – “Almost 10% of the startups in our portfolio operates in the fintech sector, on which we strongly believe since it is revolutionising the world economy and user habits”.
This press release is available on the website of the company www.digitalmagics.com in the section Investors/Press Releases.
Growish (www.growish.com and www.listanozzeonline.com), the innovative fintech SME, is a leader in Italy within the field of digital group payments. It specialises in offering fintech solutions and social marketing B2C and B2B2C – via API or SaaS platform – for the purpose of group payments and gift lists with multi-channel convergence for the sectors of travel, retail, e-commerce, banking, sharing economy, community and donation. In 2016 it was a finalist at CheBanca! Italian Fintech Award, it won the award for best fintech startup at the ING Challenge and the second prize at the Salone dei Pagamenti. With the brand Growish.com, it offers the first service in Italy to raise money amongst friends on the web via the method of the online “collection”: the digital Collection. With ListaNozzeOnline.com, it offers an easy and secure tool to quickly create a ‘mini website’ for your wedding and your wedding list online, inserting products, services, travels, even donations to “finance” your marriage and to use the money raised in complete freedom. It has provided its technology to LastMinute.com Group, to over 1000 Travel Agencies of the group Uvet Travel Network, and to Fantacalcio-online.it. So far it has transacted approximately 3 million EUR from than 30,000 users, ensuring its place as one of the leaders of the Italian Fintech sector.
Digital Magics, listed on AIM Italia (symbol: DM), is an incubator of digital projects that provides consulting services and acceleration services to startups and enterprises, to facilitate the development of new technological businesses. Thanks to the partnership with Talent Garden and Tamburi Investment Partners, Digital Magics has created the most important national platform for innovation for DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY, by offering services for the digital transformation and “Open Innovation†to excellent enterprises, while providing support to innovative startups to create successful projects, from conception to IPO. The incubation and acceleration services offered by Digital Magics are active in the TAG co-working campuses present throughout Italy. Complementary services include investment activities, which have produced over the years a portfolio of 70 investments in startups, scaleups and digital spinoffs with high growth rates. Accelerated companies are flanked by Digital Magics LAB, a team of highly experienced business partners, and benefit not only from the large network of private and institutional investors that support them through “club deals”, but also from the many partner companies that support them on an industrial scale.
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For further information:
Digital Magics – Press Office
Giorgio Bocchieri – Mail: giorgio.bocchieri@digitalmagics.com
Tel. 02 52505202 – Mob. 334 6853078
IR Top – Investor Relations
Floriana Vitale – Mail: f.vitale@irtop.com
Domenico Gentile – Mail: d.gentile@irtop.com
Tel. 02 45473884
Integrae SIM – Nomad
Mail: info@integraesim.it
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