A team with
a range of different skills and in-depth knowledge of the world of innovation.
A high-performance and user-friendly platform. A high-profile community. This,
and much more, is Doorway, a company that offers qualified investors the chance
to take part in venture capital and private equity projects through a fintech
platform. For FARE INSIEME, Giampaolo Colletti interviews Antonella Grassigli,
co-founder and CEO of Doorway.
by Giampaolo Colletti
@gpcolletti
“Any time is
a good time to start a company.” This claim made by Ron Conway, a popular
American angel investor, has become almost a mantra. But beware. It should be
taken with a pinch of salt. Because to do business, a brilliant idea or
strength of will is not enough. You need head, as well as heart. You need
vision, as well as insight. Method, analysis, time. And then you need a team of
professionals who can help you on this journey and invest in the idea. In
short, there's many a slip twixt cup and lip. But the story we are about to
tell you shows how everything is possible if you have the right people by your
side. Let's start with the name. They are called business angels but behind
this suggestive and even poetic image there is much study, a high level of
preparation, radical ideas and courage to spare. Because behind these business
angels, or rather, behind these figures that populate the world of innovation
and the multi-faceted ecosystem of start-ups, lurk systemic challenges and bets
on the future of companies, the evolution of consumption, and the construction
of meaning. After all, this term comes from America and was later borrowed by
Italy where it took root with greater complexity. Italy, we said.
Start-up
profile. The story we are about to tell starts here. Because Doorway was
founded in Bologna, but today it also has offices in Milan, Rome and Brussels.
It is a start-up that offers qualified investors the opportunity to participate
in venture capital and private equity projects through a fintech platform
authorised by Consob. At its heart there are three founding partners: Antonella
Grassigli, Marco Michelini and Federica Lolli, professionals and managers who
have been business angels for some time now. Once again, the team becomes the
winning element, even more so when it combines different skills. Antonella and
Marco are chartered accountants and auditors. Federica has legal and managerial
expertise in the digital environment. “We are the right mix of professionals
with over 30 years of experience in angel investing, VC and consultancy for
businesses and competent, attentive, ambitious young people. We have made over
70 personal investments and we believe in professionalism, competence and attention
to detail: we invest personally in the deals we propose and treat each
investment as if it were our own.” So says Antonella Grassigli, co-founder and
CEO of Doorway.
People and
technology. After all, this is a story of experts, but also of advanced
technologies. Because everything revolves around an online platform dedicated
to investors, individuals and companies interested in investing in the capital
of high scalability start-ups and SMEs, as an alternative asset class, also
benefiting from the significant tax benefits offered by Italian law. The
community is the winning element. “In our network, people with substantial
financial liquidity and specific expertise support the development of companies
with a view also to diversifying their investment portfolio. We wanted to
create a platform to bring as many people as possible closer to angel investing
by combining the simplicity of online investment with the best practices of
business angel clubs to channel significant economic resources to companies
that will contribute to the economic growth of our community,” says Grassigli.
The companies are selected by means of a process that focuses on factors such
as the team, the reference market, the sustainability of the business, the
propensity to internationalisation, and the exit prospects. The evaluation
process is carried out by the in-house team and external consultants. “We are
investors and believe that venture capital is the driver of an innovative,
sustainable and inclusive economy, as well as being an asset class that,
although risky, can offer excellent returns. Our mission is to give a wider
audience of investors access to this type of investment and we do this through
our proprietary technology platform to simplify the process as a whole,” says
Grassigli. Here again lies the strength of business
angels, picking up on market signals and recognising those businesses that can
become successful ventures over time.
https://podcast.confindustriaemilia.it/
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