The partnership will provide Enel X's corporate clients with access to the innovative services of October, one of Europe's leading platforms for online business financing

October, one of the leading fintech platforms in continental Europe in online business financing, has signed a partnership agreement with Enel X to support the development programs of small and medium sized Italian companies. Through the agreement, client companies of Enel X, the Enel Group's global business line dedicated to innovative products and digital solutions, will be able to access, under certain conditions, the services of the fintech platform, raising funds from private lenders and institutional investors interested in supporting renewable energy production and energy efficiency projects such as the installation of photovoltaic, solar-thermal, boilers and air conditioning systems.

"Thanks to the partnership with October we are able to innovate by implementing crowdfunding financial solutions for small and medium Italian companies," said Marco Gazzino, Enel X's Head of Innovation. "This participatory fundraising system allows our clients to put forward projects relating to sustainability and the development of renewables, and small investors to participate in the energy transition through a simple and fast tool."

Sergio Zocchi, CEO of October Italia, adds: "We are delighted that a leading company like Enel X has taken steps to introduce new digital financing opportunities to its client companies. This broadens the range of people supplying a virtuous system which, in fact, has already helped many companies to diversify their sources of funding. Digital Lending can certainly be a valuable tool to quickly facilitate economic recovery."

Requests from Enel X's client companies will be assessed by October on the basis of credit risk merit and, once published on the October platform, may be funded by the October lender community. It will be possible to quickly receive, through the platform, a financing offer with the duration and amount of the instalment thanks to the complete automation of the request analysis process.

Crowdfunding is an effective tool that can also finance small and medium-sized businesses, especially in times like these when it is essential to have easy access to finance. With 314 million collected in 2019, crowd-lending in Italy reached 749 million euros. More specifically, loans to businesses amounted to 339 million, of which 179.6 million in the last year (Source: 5th Italian Report on Crowdinvesting - PoliMi). Thanks to October, over 880 European SMEs have already benefited from over 425 million euros in funding.