Investing

The French financial regulator AMF has found problems at 5 crowdfunding platforms. Key project information was missing, and platforms could not always prove that investors had received the required risk warnings. One platform offered shares, although its authorisation covered the issuance of bonds.

In the first half of 2026, Dutch crowdfunding platforms raised 576 million euros. Alongside the growth in funds, the annual volume generated through individual crowdfunding investments appears on track to match that of 2025. Property still accounts for the highest volumes, but beyond that, platforms are proving to be just as important for SMEs.

This week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States has approved a proposal that enables the trading of tokenized securities on Nasdaq. It is the first time that trading and settling in tokenized form on the blockchain becomes listed on a stock market. This could be an indicator of future developments between regulated markets and blockchain networks.

In 2025, crowdfunding platforms raised over 1.1 billion euros for SMEs in the Netherlands. This is comparable to the total value of the crowdfunding market in the country in 2024. Many Dutch real estate crowdfunding platforms have recently set up their own funds, where they have realized bigger volumes than in traditional crowdfunding.

French crowdfunding platform Enerfip has announced that it has acquired competitor Lumo. Both are crowdfunding platforms for renewable energy. The amount of money that was involved in the acquisition was not disclosed.

This week, German crowdfunding platforms Zinsbaustein.de and Wiwin announced a full merger. Earlier this year, they already collaborated, but now the merge is official. They want to combine their expertise in real estate and sustainable investing.

European lending platform Bondora has released its financial results for 2024. The company reached a major milestone during the year. Since its launch in 2008, it has invested more than one billion euros.

Collin Crowdfund, a Dutch crowdfunding platform for SMEs, has reached the 1 billion euros mark in SME funding. This milestone is still almost entirely due to Dutch business loans. Meanwhile, it has also launched in Germany, and with that it expects a new growth acceleration. We spoke to the platform about these developments.

Real estate platform Estateguru funded more than 80 million euros in total in 2024. As a result, it surpassed 860 million euros in total funding volume. The platform also reached profitability by the end of the year.

According to investment platform Revolut, women made better investment decisions than men on the platform. Overall, women generated 4 percent higher returns on their investments. Additionally, more and more women are starting to invest.