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Doorway announces the launch of Doorway Advisory, a program designed to offer support to startups and scaleups in raising capital to be used to grow and consolidate in the market. The company’s Board of Directors also approved the 2023 Impact Report, which certifies Doorway’s contribution to the growth of the economic system by fostering the birth and growth of innovative companies capable of bringing positive effects to society. At the same time, the organization governed by Antonella Grassigli takes animportant step forward in the area of dematerialization of startup shares.
Doorway Benefit Society has developed an online platform through which it proposes venture capital investments in a selection of both Italian and international startups and scaleups focused mainly in AI, healthtech, lifescience, and fintech, giving
relevance to ESG criteria. In just over five years it has made investments of more than 28 million euros in 39 innovative companies, more than half of which have a significant social or environmental impact. Startups in the portfolio include Contents, Hlpy, ACBC, Qaplà, Smartpricing and Eggtronic . Last March, CDP Venture Capital’s Fondo Rilancio Startup, Francesco Caio and other major investors entered the company’s capital. The team consists of 18 people (66 percent women with an average age of 29) working in the Bologna, Milan and Brussels offices.
“Since our inception, we have decided to be a Benefit Corporation, that is, a company that places the goals of profit alongside those of creating value and common benefit by raising and investing capital to support the birth and growth of innovative and sustainable businesses that can bring positive effects to society,” Antonella Grassigli, co-founder and CEO, explained in a note. Consistent with this mission, today we are presenting the Advisory service through which we provide our expertise to help startups and SMEs raise the capital they need to sustain their growth, with a focus on the impact they, and we with them, generate on the economy and the community, as evidenced by the data emerging from our Impact Report. I think it is very important to talk about sustainability and impact for startups and SMEs as well, because a company even in its early stages should consider a sustainability path, and those who want to do so can
find in Doorway a reliable and competent partner.”
Advisory services
Doorway Advisory is a consulting service designed to offer support to startups and SMEs during all stages of growth, from the conception of the business idea to the realization of a scalable business and potential exit from the market, with the main objective of supporting fundraising and exit activities. The program is structured into four different service options: pitch advisory, financial advisory, fundrasing & legal advisory, and sustainability advisory. With the pitch advisory service, Doorway supports startups in creating the executive pitch aimed at attracting the attention of potential investors and partners, while the financial advisory service involves reviewing or drafting the financial plan and assists entrepreneurs in correctly defining the startup valuation, identifying its current value and growth prospects. Through the fundrasing & legal advisory proposition, on the other hand, the relationship with major VC players is facilitated and advice is made available in the drafting and stipulation of investment contracts and the novelty of statutes providing for the dematerialization of S.r.l. shares, including through collaboration with Euronext Securites. Finally, with its sustainability sdvisory service, Doorway offers startups strategic support on ESG issues, in the preparation of the annual ESG report, and in their transformation into Benefit Societies. The sustainability advisory service is available not only for startups but also for corporations.
Impact report
Concurrently with the launch of the advisory service, Doorway also approved the 2023 Impact Report, the third produced by the fintech, which shows Doorway’s contribution to the growth of the economic system by raising and investing capital to foster the birth and support the growth of innovative businesses capable of bringing positive effects to society. Looking at the
numbers, in 2023, Doorway brought in 15 startups, 5 of which-one-third of the total, exceeding by 166% the target it set for last year-can be called “impact.” Capital raising generated value creation for people and the environment of 3 million euros, in line with the 2023 target and up from 2.9 million in 2022. As for the capital invested in real economy, it amounted to 9.7 million euros, up sharply from 6.4 million in 2022 and exceeding the target of 8 million it had set for 2023. For 2024, the investment target has been raised to 10 million euros.
Companies in Doorway’s portfolio are selected on the basis of certain common elements that make them capable of making a positive contribution to society. In addition, some of them contribute distinctively to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all member states of the United Nations in 2015. From the perspective of impact on the SDGs, Doorway’s portfolio today consists of 46 percent startups that directly impact the SDGs and 54 percent companies with impacts in other areas, such as ESG metrics or innovation.
Finally, according to the results obtained from the Ecomate assessment, which calculates the quantitative environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance of companies, Doorway has seen its A rating confirmed, thanks to a number of improvement actions taken as early as 2022 and in 2023 on social, environmental and governance aspects, such as integrating new benefits for workers, hiring staff in the EU and not only from Italy, promoting public transportation and sustainable mobility, completing practices to strengthen safety protection in the workplace, or formalizing procedures for managing business risks.
Dematerialization of dues
On Feb. 27, 2024, Bill No. 674 (the Capital Bill) was passed, introducing the dematerialization of S.r.l. shares on a voluntary basis. The approval of the Capital DDL allows SMEs that apply for it to obtain an ISIN Code and open a dematerialized securities depository.
This means that investors who subscribe to financial instruments with an ISIN Code, deposited with a Custodian Bank, will be able to view their investment directly in their securities account. Doorway, operating with corporate vehicles in the form of S.r.l., can offer the opportunity to subscribe to dematerialized shares of investments on the platform. Dematerialized ordinary shares with an ISIN Code can be placed in the securities account at your bank. The advantages for private investors translate into the ability to sell their share by requesting it directly from their bank, subject to private agreement with the prospective buyer, without notary fees; for a private banker, it allows them to maintain visibility of their clients’ investment and portfolio directly from banking systems.
When investing on the Doorway platform, the investor can choose whether to subscribe for dematerialized shares. In this case, the bank, securities account number and BIC code must be declared at the investment stage. It should be remembered that the transfer of shares will be free and not subject to other members’ right of first refusal.
Once the investor declares bank, securities account, and BIC, Monte Titoli, at the direction of the issuer (i.e., the SPV – special purpose vehicle – interposed to the investment) will deposit the units in the account that was declared at the time of investment in the investor’s name.
This process is made possible by Doorway’s proposed investment model, based on the club deal concept. Investors who wish to invest in a crowdfunding project subscribe for a share in the capital of an Italian limited liability company called a special purpose vehicle or SPV. The SPV raises the capital and invests it in the target company (project owner), becoming its partner.
Currently, the two investment opportunities on the Doorway platform, Agricooltur and Sport XYZ, both include the option to subscribe for dematerialized shares.
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