With the objective of providing online resources and self-educational materials for Alternative Finance, Altfinator initiated the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) program on Alternative Finance.

Collaborating with Politecnico Milano and The University of Manchester, this course introduces the key models and approaches related to raising finance from sources alternative to bank lending (crowdfunding, invoice trading, venture capital, business angels, fintech platforms).

A first edition of this course was conducted in October 2019 with more than 1.200 participants. There is now a second opportunity for those who missed the first edition to receive this insightful training.

Thousands of startups, scaleups and small and medium-sized companies worldwide are increasingly finding capitals and investments from new providers, besides those offered by the traditional banking sector. These new providers include equity crowdfunding platforms, peer-to-peer lending, e-invoice trading, business angels, venture capitals, and several others, that are called “Alternative Finance” providers.

However, it is often difficult for financial advisors, companies, intermediaries and traditional financial operators to understand how alternative finance works, what are the main differences between the various types of alternative finance services that exist and how to identify a specific Alternative Finance service that matches the specific needs of a company at the different stages of its development.

Objective of the course

The goal of this course is to help participants navigate the world of Alternative Finance and Fintech. The course is designed to provide both basic and advanced knowledge about a wide range of different topics: crowdfunding, invoice trading, venture capital, business angels, legal and marketing issues, risk assessment, the fintech revolution and implications for financial markets.

Targeted groups

The course is useful for a large audience. It is primarily intended for financial advisors and business consultants, but it will be also good insight for managers of funds and crowdfunding platforms, business angels and venture capitalists, incubators, business development agencies and associations, entrepreneurs and startuppers, and policymakers.

Expected outcomes

At the end of the course participants will have:

• learnt about the alternative finance ecosystem in Europe;

• learnt about suggested best practices in the alternative finance industry;

• built competences and skills to successfully deliver alternative finance to SMEs;

• understood what FinTech and FinTech Innovation mean.