Invesdor: ‘Oneplanetcrowd is now our sustainability label’

In early 2023, international crowdfunding platform Invesdor merged with Dutch sustainable crowdfunding platform Oneplanetcrowd. In November, the technical steps involved with the merger were completed. We spoke with Maarten de Jong, one of the founders of Oneplanetcrowd, about the merger and plans for the upcoming year.

Invesdor is a fusion of crowdfunding platforms from Austria, Germany and Finland. It wanted to become an impact platform and Oneplanetcrowd possessed the expertise necessary to become that. Because of this, there was an immediate match. In early 2023, all of Oneplanetcrowd’s shareholders switched to Invesdor. A platform that has now achieved a total of over 530 million euros in funding.

Migration finalized in November

Invesdor already had some experience with mergers. De Jong says that Oneplanetcrowd really wanted the softest landing for its investors possible. Think of being able to log in immediately with the existing account, no new verification and things like a positive result on an investor test so that one does not have to go through it again.

Invesdor received 7 questions from 30,000 investors in total.

“Beforehand we used a test panel to anticipate questions and to make the transition as smooth as possible, but of course it is always exciting”, says De Jong. Everything was transitioned over the weekend before November 27th. In total, the platform received seven questions from its 30,000 investors.

“For a while, we were wondering whether the questions were coming in properly. Fortunately, it turned out that the transition just went really smoothly. Just before, we met with the whole team in Berlin, where I noticed that the synergy between us was really good. Looking back on 2023, it was a year of hard work, but where the result we hoped for was actually achieved: continuing on one platform as one organization and team.”

Invesdor launching secondary market

Currently, Invesdor is working on its own internal marketplace. It is not the only platform doing so. De Jong confirms that Invesdor has planned the launch of a secondary market for bonds on November 1^st this year. For equity, the process is a little more complex, but it is also being looked at: “those run through STAK boards, so it is up to them whether they want to use our platform for that.”

European energy projects

In addition, the platform plans to offer more crowdfunding projects in the field of renewable energy in the near future. “Through our platform, you might soon be able to invest in an Austrian hydropower plant, for example,” it says. It also wants to start civic projects in Germany involving local residents. In the Netherlands it is already very active with this: local residents of wind and solar projects can benefit financially with bonds through Invesdor.nl.

‘Local residents can benefit financially through bonds through Invesdor.’

In Germany, the number of citizen participation projects is still limited, but De Jong also sees the trend emerging there. Although the platform will first launch up with a Dutch project in mid-February. A five-year bond at 7.5 percent interest. “That is only available to residents of one of the northern provinces of the Netherlands.”

‘Frontrunner in Europe’

Invesdor was the first platform in the DACH region to receive the new ECSP license. The license allows for fundraising across Europe, but a platform must be quite sophisticated to operate in multiple EU countries simultaneously: “Multilingualism is important. This is because in most countries you are only allowed to offer propositions in the local language. But also, each EU country has its own tax rules that your platform needs to be equipped for.”

‘Projects that we label as do-good projects get the new Oneplanetcrowd label.’

“Together with Invesdor, we are one of the frontrunners in Europe”, indicates De Jong. “As an impact platform, this requires projects to be ESG-compliant, or in other words meet Invesdor’s ‘do no harm’ policy. But in addition to ‘no harm,’ you can go a step further. The projects that we label as ‘do good’ projects are now given the new Oneplanetcrowd label. These ventures make a direct contribution to one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

For scale-ups with international ambitions

This means that Invesdor’s offer is broadened. With this new label, as an investor you can immediately see if the project has the approval that investors could expect from Oneplanetcrowd before the merger. In addition, the platform is in discussion with some international scale-ups. “We can now help them raise serious money and make a big step in international brand awareness.”