Lita.co is a crowdfunding platform dedicated to solidarity finance and social investment, founded in late 2014 by Julien Benayoun and Eva Sadoun. Thanks to Namirial’s electronic signature and timestamping, the platform secures the entire journey of its solidarity investors.
In practice, Lita.co allows individuals to become shareholders — quickly, simply, and starting from €100 — in socially oriented companies committed to economic sustainability. Obtaining approval as a “Crowdfunding Investment Advisor” from the French Financial Markets Authority (AMF) in January 2015 allowed the startup to take off.
€100
minimum amount to become a shareholder
2
days to integrate the solution
0
investors dropping out during contracting
The Challenge: Securing Investment in a Strictly Regulated Sector
The crowdfunding sector is particularly regulated and supervised. In this area, the AMF pays close attention to protecting individual investors and to the integrity and legal validity of the documents provided. Specifically, it imposes two requirements: electronic signature of subscription forms with signatory authentication and instant accessibility of signed documents, and a guarantee for the investor that the shareholder agreement presented at the closing of the investment campaign is exactly the same as the one presented at subscription.
In an emerging and competitive crowdfunding platform market, the challenge for Lita.co was to offer its investor clients a simple, secure investment process from day one of the platform’s launch. Fully digitizing the entire investment chain was an essential part of the model the founders envisioned, and represented a significant competitive advantage.
“From the very beginning, it seemed obvious to us to offer a fully digital, online, and secure subscription process, with a user-friendly experience approach. Our customers need to be able to invest simply, transparently, and in just a few minutes through our platform.”
— Julien Benayoun, Co-founder of Lita.co
The Solution: Namirial’s Cloud Platform
Facing this dual legal and technical constraint, Lita.co‘s founders consulted several providers of electronic signature and document timestamping solutions, alongside payment solutions. Their choice quickly settled on Namirial‘s Cloud solution, based on operational and regulatory criteria: from a regulatory standpoint, it proved to be the only French platform that fully met all of the AMF’s requirements.
Listed as a “Trusted Service Provider” by the French State, Namirial‘s SaaS platform also holds dual French and European certification: compliance with European electronic signature standards (ETSI standard) and compliance with the general security framework, with RGS certification for timestamping. These qualifications mean that any document signed through Namirial constitutes strong legal evidence.
From an operational standpoint, the ergonomics, user-friendliness, and smoothness of the interface also made a difference. The pricing model aligned with Lita.co’s desired business model, supporting controlled scaling thanks to the SaaS approach: lower integration costs and consumption-based billing.
“Namirial struck us as the solution that was easiest to integrate and best documented, on the one hand; and the simplest and most secure for our customers, on the other. In just 2 days, the solution was integrated and operational within our platform.”
— Julien Benayoun, Co-founder of Lita.co
A Smooth, Simple Journey for the Investor
The Lita.co platform guides investor customers through a journey where signing the subscription form represents the final act sealing their stake in the company. Beforehand, they take the time to choose the project they want to contribute to and learn its details and purpose.
The process works as follows:
- The investor customer chooses the company they wish to invest in on Lita.co, analyzes the project, and decides on the number of shares and the investment amount.
- They make their online payment through the payment provider using their credit card.
- Once payment is validated, they click the “sign” button, symbolizing the act of subscribing to the form, and are redirected to a page hosted by Namirial.
- The investor is invited to read the entire form and click the “sign the document” button.
- They then receive a code via SMS on their phone, enter it in the interface, and thereby trigger the electronic signature — an authentication step essential to securing the signature.
- The investor receives their subscription form by email and can also download it from the Lita.co platform.
Document Timestamping: A Priority Issue
Protecting individual investors is an important issue for the AMF, to the point of requiring certified timestamping of the shareholder agreement. On the Lita.co site, individuals subscribe to a company’s capital over a period of 1 to 3 months. Timestamping the shareholder agreement aims to prove to the individual that the document they see at closing is identical in every respect to the one they committed to at the time of subscription, ensuring its integrity over time.
A Quality Partnership, Aligned with Lita.co’s Values
The features of the solution offered via API were integrated as early as the development phase of the Lita.co platform. The benefits offered by the online electronic signature step therefore contribute directly to the success of fundraising rounds: to date, no shareholder has abandoned their investment during the contracting phase within the Namirial environment.
For the Lita.co team, choosing a provider isn’t just about technical skills or regulatory expertise. The human element matters just as much, and the company places great importance on building a relationship of trust with its partners.
Lita.co has been able to rely on Namirial‘s teams, whether during integration, go-live, or ongoing operational support, always maintaining a close relationship.
“Support is available, responsive, and proactive. The AMF needed documentation on the tool used for certification, and the team provided it to us very quickly. They also don’t hesitate to plan ahead to keep us informed about regulations relevant to our business. Their expertise and professionalism are especially valuable.”
— Julien Benayoun, Co-founder of Lita.co
Disclaimer: this success story was originally produced and published by Signaturit Universign. Following the integration of Signaturit into the Namirial Group, it is now hosted on the Namirial website for archival and informational purposes. The results, figures, branding, and product references reflect the customer experience at the time of original publication and may no longer represent current offerings or outcomes.