CENTY: CAPITAL INCREASEÂ WITH STARTIP (TAMBURI Investment Partners), DIGITAL MAGICS AND VENPAY (IVS GROUP)
The smart coin counter managed via app, which converts cent coins into electronic money, will enhance the technological development and three prototypes will be produced, entirely designed and built in Italy, with technical partners Experis IT and MicroHard, by the end of 2018
The operation fits perfectly with the strategy of the most important national innovation hub for DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY, created by StarTIP, Digital Magics and Talent Garden, in order to support the development of digital and innovative startups and SMEs
CENTY, the smart coin counter managed entirely remotely via app, which converts cent coins into electronic money, closed a capital increase of €250,000 subscribed by: StarTIP – a company established by TIP – Tamburi Investment Partners SpA – in order to contribute to the development of technology, innovative and digital companies and which is already a significant shareholder of Digital Magics, Talent Garden, Alkemy and Telesia; Venpay, a company specialised in telemetry services and management of payment terminals controlled by IVS Group, an Italian leader and second operator in Europe in the vending machine industry, and Digital Magics, the most important Italian business incubator, already a shareholder of CENTY.
Thanks to the new investment, CENTY will enhance its software and its technology platform; it will produce three prototypes of the smart coin counter (tested in three Italian cities including Rome and Milan) by the end of 2018 and will focus on activities of research and development, marketing (new website, logo and video) and promotion of the product and service.
CENTY is an innovative startup based in Gallarate (Varese) and at the coworking campus Talent Garden Cinecittà in Rome; it is part of the Digital Magics Rome portfolio and, in addition to the campus in the heart of the Roman Studios, it operates within Talent Garden Poste Italiane, born of the Open Innovation agreement between Poste Italiane and Digital Magics, in order to support young talents and new entrepreneurs from Lazio and Central Italy.
The national innovation hub for DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY created by StarTIP, Digital Magics and Talent Garden provides startups and innovative SMEs with support and the ideal ecosystem to create successful projects, from conception, to growth and development through their inclusion in an international network, up to the IPO. Moreover, with the Open Innovation programs for companies that want to innovate their processes, services and products, thanks to the vision and technologies developed by startups, the hub as a whole – precisely because it is part of the TIP group – the main network of entrepreneurial families existing at national level – is able to create a synergistic and integrated system between innovative companies and more traditional ones.
For the creation of the prototypes – which are studied and built entirely in Italy – CENTY is working with two important technical partners: Experis IT, ManpowerGroup company that supports businesses in the implementation of projects and innovative solutions in the fields of information technology and engineering, and promotes the strategic growth of its customers by researching the best talents and training the necessary skills through the Experis Academy and MicroHard, a leading company in the design, production and marketing at an international level with a development area focused on outdoor machinery.
The smart coin counter by CENTY – which will be present in airports, shopping malls and supermarkets – will recognise the user thanks to the app. After entering the euro cents in the machine, the user can convert the amount into electronic money, by depositing it into a savings account, or using it to purchase content (such as movies, music, apps), donating it to charity or turning it into points, discounts and promotions, to be associated with loyalty cards in supermarkets and shops.
At the conclusion of the capital increase, the founders of CENTY, Davide Caiafa and Lorenzo Vidoz, will have 56.25% and Digital Magics 23.75%.
“Thanks to the entry and trust of these strategic investors, we are creating an extremely reliable and precise prototype, which becomes a new marketing tool – said Davide Caiafa, co-founder and CEO of CENTY, and Lorenzo Vidoz, co-founder and commercial director of CENTY – Bank of Italy states that there are 6.3 billion coins of 1 and 2 cents produced from 2002 to 2016. According to our estimate at least one billion of these cents is unused in the pockets of Italians and with CENTY we want to put it back in the economic system, also by tightening partnerships with important brands of large-scale distribution, retail and international companies”.
“CENTY is one of the excellences of our portfolio – said Marco Gay, CEO of Digital Magics – and thanks to the talent of Davide and Lorenzo and the real innovation that will be created, it will be able to put back relevant capitals into circulation. The growth of CENTY and this latest round of investments are a concrete example of the path and the results that the national innovation hub for the DIGITAL MADE IN ITALY of StarTIP, Digital Magics and Talent Garden can achieve: a unique mix of networks, financial resources, skills and attractiveness”.
“We are very pleased with this investment, albeit limited, in CENTY, which certainly offers innovative solutions to one of the major problems relating to the use of cash and in particular small coins” – says Alessandra Gritti, StarTIP’s sole director and also vice-president and CEO of Tamburi Investment Partners.
“The scalable model and innovation of CENTY can develop interesting synergies with our activities in the field of electronic money” – says Marco Gallarati, managing director of Venpay – “In addition to entering the capital, we want to become an important industrial partner of the startup also through our subsidiaries Coinservice and Coinservice Nord, for which we are the leading operator in Italy in the management of metallic money, moving about EUR 3 billion per year (30,000 tons) for banks, large-scale distribution, motorway managers, car parks, local transport and for the vending sector”.
This press release is available on the website www.digitalmagics.com under Investor Relations – Press Release.
Â
CENTY has developed a smart coin counter managed entirely remotely via app, which aims to resolve the problem of loose 1, 2 and 5 cent coins across Europe. The machine, present in airports, shopping malls and supermarkets, thanks to the Centy app will be able to recognise the user who, once inserting the euro cents into the coin counter, will then choose where to credit the calculated amount. The user can then convert it into electronic money (depositing it into a savings account for example, or using it to purchase content such as movies, music, applications, or even donating it to charity) alternatively they can turn it into points, discounts, and promotions (to be associated with loyalty cards in supermarkets and shops).
Digital Magics, listed on AIM Italia (symbol: DM), is a business 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 providing support to innovative startups to create successful projects, from conception to IPO, while offering services for the digital transformation and “Open Innovation†to excellent enterprises. 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’ team, a partner of enormous business and digital experience, 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.
Bank Akros S.p.A. acts as a Nomad and Specialist under the AIM Italia Issuers Regulations. For the transmission and storage of regulated information, Digital Magics makes use of the system of dissemination eMarket SDIR and the storage mechanism eMarket STORAGE available at the address  www.emarketstorage.com managed by Spafid Connect SpA.
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
Tel. 02 45473883/4
Banca Akros – Nomad
Mail: ecm@bancaakros.it
Tel. 02 434441
