Brick Up - Risk and return review
Brick Up - Returns and loss rates
Brick Up – Pros & Cons
About Brick Up
What it is
Brick Up is an Italian crowdfunding platform, based in Bologna, where you buy a share in a company set up to develop or renovate a property, mostly homes in the Bologna area and elsewhere in Emilia-Romagna. It started on 1 June 2021. By May 2026 it had raised €10.2 million in 12 campaigns, of which €4.75 million for 5 projects in 2025. It is a small platform with a short record.
How it works
You subscribe to quotas in the project company during a campaign. Minimums are set per project: the platform says you can start from €500, and recent offers asked for €1,000 or €2,000. Your money waits in a blocked account until the campaign reaches its minimum; if it fails, it is refunded within 15 days. Recent deals offer two classes: BRICK A quotas with the higher estimated return, and BRICK B quotas (from €100,000) with a lower return but a right to exit after 32 months. Each project is reviewed by an outside evaluator and approved by the platform's board.
Returns
Brick Up shows only estimated gross returns for each project, set before the work starts. The highest are 30% over 36 months (two Terrazze sui Colli projects), equal to about 9.1% a year compounded; the offer open in November 2026, Residenze Le Torri, estimates 22% over 24 months for BRICK A quotas and 16% for BRICK B. Three projects are marked as concluded (two in 2022, one in 2023), but the platform publishes no realised return for them, so whether estimates have been met cannot be checked.
Losses and defaults
The platform says no project has gone into default since launch (blog posts of January and May 2026), but it does not define default, and most projects have not finished. It publishes no statistics page and no figures on delays or sales shortfalls. One campaign, La Nuova Città Giardino II, raised only €54,000 of a €1 million minimum and did not go ahead.
What secures your money
Nothing secures your money: you own shares in the project company, and if the project fails you rank behind its lenders and may lose everything. The quotas sold on the platform have a liquidation preference, so investors get their capital and return back before the developer's ordinary shareholders when profits are paid out. BRICK B holders also have a commitment from the developer to pay back at least 80% of their capital if the quotas have not been paid out after 32 months; that is a promise by the developer, not security over an asset.
Who runs it and its licence
The platform is run by Brickup S.r.l. (Bologna, VAT and tax number 03799251206). It is entered in the ordinary section of CONSOB's register of crowdfunding platforms by CONSOB resolution no. 23189 of 10 July 2024, under the European crowdfunding rules, and is supervised by CONSOB. Investments are not covered by a deposit guarantee or investor compensation scheme.
Fees
Non-sophisticated investors pay the platform a one-off investment fee on each investment, shown on each offer page: 1.25% of the amount invested on Residenze Le Torri (November 2026). The developer pays a fixed fee for the project review and a success fee, a percentage of the money raised.
Getting your money out
No secondary market is offered on the site. The platform warns that selling a stake in a small company can take a very long time and is never certain. You get your money back when the project company sells the homes and distributes its profits, after 12 to 36 months on recent deals if all goes to plan. BRICK B holders can ask to exit after 32 months.
Our view
Return: Medium, based on estimated gross returns of up to 30% over 36 months, about 9.1% a year; nothing realised is published. Risk: Low (higher means more risk). The platform's claim of no defaults in 12 projects would on its own give the lowest level, Very Low; we set it one step higher, at Low, because the claim is undefined, few projects have finished and they sit mostly in one region. Risk-return: Low, because only estimated returns exist and the platform is still young.
Regulation
License / Regulation: Brickup S.r.l. (Bologna, VAT number 03799251206) is entered in the ordinary section of CONSOB's register of crowdfunding platforms by CONSOB resolution no. 23189 of 10 July 2024, as a European crowdfunding service provider under Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, and is supervised by CONSOB. Investments are not covered by a deposit guarantee or investor compensation scheme.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Yes. Brickup S.r.l. is in CONSOB's register of crowdfunding platforms by resolution no. 23189 of 10 July 2024, under the European crowdfunding rules, and is supervised by CONSOB.
You pay by bank transfer into a blocked account in the project company's name, kept by a financial intermediary until the campaign closes. The intermediary is not named on the public pages. If the campaign fails, you are refunded within 15 days.
It is set per project. The platform says you can start from €500; recent offers asked for €1,000 or €2,000. BRICK B quotas need at least €100,000.
Only estimates: up to 30% gross over 36 months, about 9.1% a year. No realised return is published for the three concluded projects. The platform says none of its 12 projects has defaulted, without a definition.
Nothing: you own shares in the project company. Your quotas get paid before the developer's own shares when profits are distributed, and BRICK B holders have the developer's promise to return at least 80% after 32 months.
Not on the platform: no secondary market is offered, and selling a stake can take a very long time. You are paid when the homes are sold, after 12 to 36 months on recent deals. BRICK B holders can ask to exit after 32 months.
Non-sophisticated investors pay a one-off fee shown on each offer, 1.25% of the amount invested on the November 2026 offer. Developers pay a review fee and a success fee.
BRICK A quotas have the higher estimated return, for example 22% over 24 months. BRICK B quotas, from €100,000, have a lower estimate, 16% over 24 months, plus a right to exit after 32 months with at least 80% of capital back, as promised by the developer.
Your shares are in the project company, not in Brick Up, so they remain yours if the platform closes. If the project fails, shareholders are paid only after lenders, and you can lose all your money. No compensation scheme applies.
