September 13, 2022
Oneplanetcrowd, our platform for sustainable financing, passed the €100 million mark in capital for sustainable and social enterprises and projects this week, thanks to over 43,000 investors and nearly 300 campaigns.
Oneplanetcrowd, an initiative of StartGreen Capital, is a financing platform that brings together innovative impact entrepreneurs and forward-looking investors. Sustainable entrepreneurs and energy projects can raise financing from private investors via the platform. Forward-looking investors can invest directly in innovative companies and projects. In this way, investors achieve a ‘double return’: both financial and social.
VanMoof, Fairphone and Yoni
Among the 300 companies responsible for that €100 million in recent years are well-known names such as VanMoof, Fairphone, and Seepje. Currently, the company Yoni, which is rapidly conquering the femcare market, is raising growth capital to finance its expansion plans. Within a week, the company raised more than €650,000, pushing Oneplanetcrowd past the milestone of €100 million in total. Through a convertible loan, investors have the opportunity to become shareholders in this fast-growing company at a discount within three years.
In addition to SMEs and scale-ups, Oneplanetcrowd also offers many loans for sustainable energy projects. ‘To make the energy transition possible, much more momentum is needed,’ explains director Maarten de Jong. ‘That is why we have more and more solar, wind, and bio-energy projects on our platform.’
Social and sustainable impact
Sustainable energy is more relevant than ever. De Jong notes that many investors are interested in investing in these types of projects with a fixed return. However, companies do not necessarily have to be green and sustainable. Companies with a social impact are also welcome on the Oneplanetcrowd platform. ‘Recently, we had a project for future-proof education,’ says De Jong. ‘Currently, we are raising money for an organization that provides a fall prevention program for the elderly. This is often a cost item for municipalities, but with this Health Impact Bond, private investors can make this possible with an expected net return of 27.4 percent over six years.’ With these types of propositions, Oneplanetcrowd aims to ‘democratize’ capital: where previously only professional parties could participate, these types of propositions are now also available to the private investor via Oneplanetcrowd.
On the right track
While investor sentiment worldwide is strongly negative due to all the uncertainty, Oneplanetcrowd is managing to achieve strong growth. In 2022, more has already been raised than in the entire previous year. For this year, De Jong is aiming for an amount towards €25 million. ‘That is a growth of 50 percent compared to last year. I think this demonstrates that we are on the right track.’
