French crowdfunding declined 11% in 2023

The French crowdfunding market has recorded a decline of 11.3 percent. In total, more than 2 billion euros in funding was collected last year. The decline was mostly caused by the real estate crisis, as real estate crowdfunding dropped 28 percent.

These data come from the fifth benchmark barometer for crowdfunding in France, by Mazars and the Financement Participatif France (FPF). According to the report, French crowdfunding figures have multiplied by 12. This accumulates in more than 9 billion euros.

Decline after a peak in 2022

Crowdfunding is a popular financing solution in the country. In 2023, there were 157,535 projects funded. This is a growth of 31 percent compared to 120,107 projects in 2022. However, crowdfunding peaked in 2022 with 2.3 billion euros collected in total. In 2023, the market declined for the first time, to 2.09 billion euros.

A total of 1.2 billion euros was collected by real estate crowdfunding

In 2023, real estate crowdfunding declined 28 percent to a total of 1.2 billion euros collected. However, this sector still represents the majority of crowdfunding (a market share of 55.6 percent). A year earlier, 1.6 billion euros was collected by this form of financing. The sharp decline was caused by a contraction in the French real estate market, with an increase in credit rates and drop in transactions.

Renewable energy crowdfunding increased 11.5%

At the same time, crowdfunding campaigns for renewable energies seem to gain popularity. It increased 11.5 percent, caused by a 15.1 percent increase in the amount of projects. At least 351 projects were funded in 2023, compared to 305 in 2022.

The market share of crowdfunding for renewable energy is now 17.6%.

Compared to the total amount of funding collected, renewable energy crowdfunding accounts for 17.6 percent. This amounts to 368 million euros. In 2022, that share was still 14 percent.

‘Crowdfunding meets needs of many sectors’

“This fund-raising tool, highly popular with individuals, meets the needs of many sectors, such as real estate, despite the difficulties encountered during the year. It is also particularly well-suited to financing the particularly dynamic renewable energies sector”, said Damien Guermonprez, chairman of FPF.

‘The implementation of the ECSP license may have had an impact on activity of platforms.’

“The year 2023 also witnessed the implementation of the European Crowdfunding Service Provider license, which may have had an impact on the day-to-day activity of lending and financial securities platforms.”