The rise of inflation and economic uncertainties do not stop Italian fintech from thriving. The expert and partner lawyer responsible for the Italian Tech Group at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe Attilio Mazzilli reveals that this positive trend does not affect only leading companies like Satispay or Scalapay.
Attilio Mazzilli: the numbers of other fintech companies
Insurtech, regtech, welltech, payment and blockchain companies are all thriving at the moment. According to “Startup Italia”, the fintech sector received around 996 million euros in investment during the first half of 2022. A total investment of 100 billion dollars was registered in Europe the previous year, which is three times more than the amount invested in 2020. The team of lawyers at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe was able to witness it first-hand. The global law firm managed over 500 transactions worth 20 billion dollars in 2021 and in the first half of 2022, it handled eight fintech rounds, exceeding a value of 850 million euros. Partner Attilio Mazzilli, who is also a Member of the International Technology Companies Group at Orrick, explained that “the competition among investors for the best deals was a trend that emerged last year, given the high liquidity in circulation”. “Even in 2022,” – he added – funds continued to have significant liquidity to invest, and there are no signs of change despite economic uncertainties”. Satispay and Scalapay are a guarantee but there are so many promising fintech companies that are worth to invest in. An example is Bkn301, a company that emerged from the acquisition of assets of the former Payment Institute of the Republic of San Marino and which aims to become a cross-border open-market operator in open banking and digital payments. Another one is Wallife, which launched the first policy to protect digital identities after closing a 12 million dollars investment round.
Attilio Mazzilli: what does the future hold for the fintech sector?
Attilio Mazzilli has been Head of the Italian Tech Group and Member of the International Technology Companies Group for a long time now. Partner of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe since 2015, he specializes in private equity and venture capital and has long expertise in domestic and cross-border M&A transactions. He primarily advises on M&A, private equity and venture capital transactions and support startups and venture capital firms when it comes to financing, corporate law, M&A, and listings. When asked about his opinion on whether or not this positive trend in the fintech sector will keep going, Attilio Mazzilli acknowledges that there is a chance that venture capital will come across some difficulties. “The first half saw operations that were prepared beforehand, but the second half of the year could experience a slowdown of up to 10% for operations that are inevitably riskier”, he explained. But he also reassured that the interest in fintech operations will remain high. Thanks to his work, Attilio Mazzilli contributed to a number of awards for Orrick, including “Law Firm of the Year 2021 for Venture Capital”, “Law Firm of the Year 2020 for M&A Small Cap” (BeBeez and PBV), and “Law Firm of the Year 2020 for Fintech” (TopLegal Industry Awards).
