Full release at http://ow.ly/4nnpJN 

Brussels, 3 May 2016 – EBN – the innovation network, welcomes the support today demonstrated by the European Commission and the Capital Markets Union Action Plan, on crowdfunding as a viable and alternative source of finance for European startups. Crowdfunding services are already provided and/or facilitated by 43% of EBN’s 150 quality-certified EU|BICs, having represented a total of over EUR 2.1 million raised for European innovative startups in 2015.

As confirmed by the report today launched by the European Commission (EC), crowdfunding remains relatively small but is developing rapidly. If appropriately regulated, it has the potential to be a key source of financing for startups and SMEs over the long term. The increased relevance of this financing model is confirmed by the EU|BIC 2015 Impact Report(1) where 0.44% of the approximately EUR 480 million raised by EBN members for their startups, originated from crowdfunding campaigns. This represented a total of EUR 2.1 million. This growth in crowdfunding is almost three times the amount raised compared to the previous year’s data (summary of data here), where just 0.12% of the EUR 285 million investment came from crowdfunding.

CEO of the EBN network, Philippe Vanrie, welcomes the launch of the crowdfunding report by the EC: “We are very happy with the support today shown by the EC to crowdfunding initiatives all across Europe, confirming EBN’s partnership with the European Crowdfunding Network (ECN). Our numbers support these findings, as many of our members are already working day-to-day with their startups leveraging crowdfunding, making clear this is an increasingly significant financing model.”

(1) The full data of the 2015 EU|BIC Impact Report will be launched on the 2th of June at the annual EBN TechCamp event.

Contact:
Cláudia Silva, media@ebn.eu, +32 2 761 10 81