Italian challenger bank AideXa raises €45 Million

AideXa is an Italy-based banking challenger and it has secured €45 million in funding through a seed round.

The bank was founded by Roberto Nicastro who is a former general manager of UniCredit. Aidexa goal is to use a combination of AI and Open Banking to target the seven million businesses in Italy with a turnover of about €10 million.

Read also: Starling Bank is about to raise £200m in funding round

AideXa operates as a credit institution (s.c. “106 license”), and is offering loans and investment-related services, but expects to obtain a full banking license in 2021.

AideXa’s management is made up by a mix of banking and digital skills and plans to recruit approximatively 100 staff in the coming months.

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The €45 million in seed funding was raised from the Generali Group, Banca Sella, IFIS, and from VCs, family offices, trade associations and angel investors.

“Italian small businesses account for over half of Italy’s GDP, contribute to over half of new job creations in the country and represent Europe’s largest small business pool. As a result of Covid, their attitude towards digital tools and interactions have sharply increased,” adds challengerinsider.com.

A PwC report reveals that Italy now has a growing real estate segment, which is supported by equity lending and crowdfunding platforms. The nation’s digital asset sector has also grown in the past year. PwC has claimed: “[Overall,] Italy is weak [in terms of Fintech activity.] In an international context, Italy’s position on Fintech has been weak so far (it is ranked 24th in the world according to Findexable) and low investment plays a dominant role in this ranking “