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 some of the advantages gained through a crowdfunding campaign. Each platform allows for testing the validity of one's projects by exposing them to the impartial judgment of the online crowd, facilitating contact with individuals who may be challenging to reach through other means. Beyond being a mere capital-raising tool, a crowdfunding platform can provide significant visibility to project proponents, who receive indirect marketing benefits.

Crowdfunding is regulated by Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council, dated October 7, 2020, concerning European crowdfunding service providers for businesses.
In Italy, Legislative Decree No. 30 of March 10, 2023, allowed for the adaptation of national regulations to the provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 regarding crowdfunding service providers.
Although the regulation is already in force, a transitional regime is in effect until November 10, 2023. According to the transitional regime outlined by the ECSP Regulation, crowdfunding platforms that were already operational at the time of its entry into force have one year to comply with the new regulations, being allowed to continue operating under national rules until November 10, 2023.
Italian regulations were therefore supplemented by second-level regulation with CONSOB Regulation No. 22720 of June 1, 2023, concerning crowdfunding services, in implementation of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on crowdfunding service providers for businesses and articles 4-sexies.1 and 100-ter of the TUF (in force since June 12, 2023).
Before the European regulations came into effect, equity crowdfunding was governed by the "Regulation on capital raising through online portals" adopted by CONSOB Resolution No. 18592/2013, while lending crowdfunding was regulated by the "Provisions on the collection of savings by non-banking entities" adopted by Bank of Italy Resolution No. 584/2016.

Lending crowdfunding is a form of crowdfunding where investors provide funding to individuals or businesses in exchange for a financial return in the form of interest or repayment of the borrowed capital.
Essentially, investors act as money lenders, extending loans to individuals or businesses in need through an online crowdfunding platform. This form of collective funding is based on a loan agreement and involves the repayment of the borrowed amount along with agreed-upon interest over time. Lending crowdfunding provides an opportunity for both investors to gain a financial return and individuals or businesses to access funds without resorting to traditional financial institutions.

Equity crowdfunding is a form of crowdfunding in which investors provide funding to businesses in exchange for securities (ownership stakes or company shares) rather than receiving interest or repayments of the borrowed capital.
In other words, investors become shareholders in the company they are funding. This means they will participate in any future profits and losses of the company, in addition to having a long-term interest in the growth and success of the business. Equity crowdfunding provides businesses with an alternative method of raising capital, allowing them to secure funds from a broad base of online investors without having to relinquish a significant ownership stake to a single investor or venture capitalist.
Recently, both of these forms of alternative finance have come to be known as crowdinvesting, to further clarify the concept of investment, whether in the form of debt or venture capital, for both businesses and individuals.

All projects are analyzed, studied, and verified by a group of industry experts (either internal or external to the Ener2Crowd team) who validate their publication on the platform. We have Energy Service Companies as partners capable of supporting us in more complex cases. Projects are assessed from a technical-economic perspective, and the financial soundness of the proponent is evaluated. The goal is to exclusively propose financially sound projects with a strong positive ecological impact on the platform.

Ener2Crowd retains a variable percentage ranging from 4% to 7% of the capital raised, in addition to the campaign setup cost on the site and a 0.5% withholding on the repayment of installments to investors. All these fees are borne by the company promoting the campaign.

Ener2Crowd entrusts money transactions to a Payment Institution authorized by the Bank of France with a European passport, named LemonWay. This company is a leader in digital payments for crowdfunding platforms, with a transaction volume of nearly 2 billion euros in 2018. In Europe, Ener2Crowd operates with a direct mandate as an Agent of the French Payment Institution LemonWay, according to Article 128 quater of the Banking Act, number 6.

A distinguishing feature of our platform is absolute transparency: we make all information and analyses about projects public. Community, Future, and Sustainability are the pillars on which Ener2Crowd is built. Unlike other platforms, from general ones to real estate-focused ones, we make it accessible to everyone to take part in the most crucial and challenging endeavor of our time: actively participating in the energy transition towards a fully circular and sustainable economy.

If it is an instant bank transfer, it can be seen in your Wallet in approximately 48 hours.
If it is not an instant bank transfer, it will take a few days to appear 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 need to manually enter your IBAN in the appropriate section and upload a Bank Document (for example, a screenshot of online banking or the first page of a bank statement).
Please note that the IBAN entered for this operation must be in the name of the same person to whom the Wallet is registered, and shared accounts are also allowed. It will be necessary to wait a few hours for validation and activation of the Cash Out.
Once the Cash Out is enabled, operationally, to transfer the money to your bank account, you will need to click on the "Withdraw" button, located in the dedicated section of your Wallet in the Reserved Area.
The funds will arrive in your account within the typical timeframe of a traditional bank transfer, which varies depending on the bank involved.

Once you open a digital wallet and load it via bank transfer or credit card, the amount of your money is ready to be invested. When you invest in a project, your money moves from your wallet to the wallet of the proposing company. The wallet of the proposing company is opened and managed by the Ener2Crowd team, ensuring that the proponent cannot withdraw money from their wallet at any time. Once the campaign is completed, the capital is unlocked for the company to develop the project, and the repayment of installments to investors begins, according to the signed financing agreement.

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

Ener2Crowd's projects undergo a rigorous analysis, including an assessment of the financial strength of the proponent to ensure repayment of the loan. As with any investment portfolio, the best approach is always to diversify by allocating your budget across different types of projects. Using this method, even those investing in complex financial products can effectively mitigate the inherent risks associated with the concept of investment. There is no such thing as zero risk in the world of investments.

FOR FINANCING TO ITALIAN LEGAL ENTITIES
In accordance with current regulations, the tax treatment regarding income from loans granted through peer-to-peer platforms currently does not allow Payment Institution Agents to act as withholding agents. Therefore, each investor will need to independently declare such income. It should be noted that the income must be declared regardless of whether the amount is deposited in the Ener2Crowd account or transferred to the investor's personal account. Specifically, individuals not engaged in business activities (not registered on the portal with a VAT number) must declare the gross income received using the model 730 or the Personal Income Tax model, while individuals engaged in business activities, companies, and entities will declare such income as business income. For more details on the declaration procedure, we recommend consulting your accountant or tax advisor.
The applied withholdings will be as follows:

For investors NOT resident in Italy:
• As a business entity: application of a final withholding tax of 26%.
• Not as a business entity: application of a final withholding tax of 26%.
For investors resident in Italy:
• As a business entity: application of an advance withholding tax of 0%.
• Not as a business entity: application of an advance withholding tax of 26%.

In your Reserved Area, in the Taxation section, you can download the Italian Revenue Agency's ruling and resolution on this issue.

FOR FINANCING TO SPANISH LEGAL ENTITIES
In accordance with current regulations, the tax rules stipulate that the financed legal entity applies a withholding tax.

For investors NOT resident in Spain:
• If you are an individual: application of a final withholding tax of 19%.
• If you are a legal entity: application of a final withholding tax of 19%.
For investors resident in Spain:
• If you are an individual: application of an advance withholding tax of 19%.
• If you are a legal entity: application of an advance withholding tax of 19%.

Every investor is required to complete the following registration steps:

• Personal information compilation;
• Anti-money laundering questionnaire;
• Identification;
• Classification;
• Personal information compilation;
• Suitability questionnaire;
• Loss simulation test.

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

To proceed with registration, you need to have the following documents on hand:
For individuals:

• Identification document or passport in jpeg or pdf format.

For legal entities:

• Identification document or passport in jpeg or pdf format of the legal representative;
• Identification document or passport in jpeg or pdf format of the ultimate beneficial owners;
• Company registration certificate;
• Financial statements (only for sophisticated investors).

Note: For investor identification (both individuals and legal entities), you need to have access to a camera (on your phone or computer) to take an identity selfie.

To ensure adequate protection for 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 safeguards for investors appropriate for each category.
Sophisticated investors receive the same treatment as professional investors as defined under Directive 2014/65/EU (MiFID). Therefore, all investors can be classified 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 these risks without exposing themselves to excessive financial consequences.
Sophisticated investors can be classified as such if they meet at least one of the following identification criteria:
Legal entities that meet AT LEAST ONE of the following criteria:

1. Net assets of at least EUR 100,000;
2. Net turnover of at least EUR 2,000,000;
3. Balance sheet of at least EUR 1,000,000.

Individuals who meet AT LEAST TWO of the following criteria:

1. Personal gross income of at least EUR 60,000 per tax year, or a portfolio of financial instruments, including cash deposits and financial assets, exceeding EUR 100,000;
2. The investor works or has worked in the financial sector for at least one year in a professional position requiring knowledge of the intended operations or services, or the investor has held an executive position for at least 12 months in the legal entity as defined above;
3. The investor has carried out significant transactions in capital markets with an average frequency of 10 transactions per quarter in the preceding four quarters.

In accordance with European Regulation 2020/1503, a non-sophisticated investor is defined as someone "who is not a sophisticated investor."
Therefore, this is a purely residual definition that serves to identify the retail investor, i.e., someone who does not meet certain wealth and professional requirements.
The legislator's intent is to assess the level of financial knowledge of these investors so that they can make informed investment choices. In order to protect non-sophisticated investors, an enhanced suitability assessment and a simulation regarding the ability to bear losses are provided.
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.

Certainly, yes. Simply send an email to support@ener2crowd.com. Once the email is received, your investor status will be changed, and you can proceed with the appropriateness questionnaire.

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 conduct an entrance test to assess the knowledge of potential non-sophisticated investors and ascertain their understanding of these investments. For this reason, Ener2Crowd takes reasonable measures to ensure that 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 associated risks.
Through the suitability questionnaire, Ener2Crowd verifies that the investment aligns with the investor's knowledge and experience characteristics revealed by the answers provided in the questionnaire. For this reason, information is collected during registration through the questionnaire.

Despite the thorough analyses we conduct before publishing our projects, it is possible for a company not to repay the debt. The financing contract is governed by Italian law, and if it is not adhered to, in addition to late payment interest being applied, the investor has the right to take legal action against the proponent.

Once we obtain authorization to offer the Electronic Bulletin Board Service as envisaged 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 it is therefore among our priorities for future developments.

The duration of the 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 otherwise specified by the proposing company. Please refer to the financing contract for all relevant information.

You can propose any project that has a positive impact on the environment: Energy efficiency projects (CHP, heat pumps, electric motors, ORC systems, etc.), renewable energy projects (photovoltaic, solar thermal, hydropower, wind, biogas, geothermal, etc.), residential projects (energy efficiency in buildings, energy efficiency in systems, etc.), and sustainable projects (electric mobility, electrification of transportation, etc.).

We have implemented 4 types of financing within our platform:

• Long-term fixed-rate financing with fixed interest
• Long-term variable-rate financing with fixed interest
• Short-term bullet financing with interest payment at the end
• Short-term bullet financing with principal payment at the end

The imposed limit is set at 5 million euros raised for each project within a 12-month period.

The financial needs of the proposing company cannot be met exclusively through crowdfunding. The proposing company must be financially sound and have its own funds.

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

Our team consists of engineers and economists in the energy sector who can help you develop your sustainable project. Additionally, we can connect you with leading ESCOs and Utilities in Italy.

In the initial phase, simple information about the project is required: business plan, installed technology, generated savings, and involved companies. In a subsequent phase, more details about the project and the company will be requested (chamber of commerce registration, latest financial statements, financial structure of the project, etc.). You can submit your project to Ener2Crowd and upload all the necessary documents at this LINK. LINK.