Crowdfunding is a modern and effective form of fundraising, mainly based around digital platforms, which which functions as a meeting point between investors and business projects in need of financing. Raising funds through crowdfunding is a concept that is quickly becoming more and more popular. The main advantage of crowdfunding is that it’s an available option for all types of businesses and ideal for startups startups which have a hard time getting traditional bank loans. Other pros of this financial form is that it’s flexible, less time-consuming and usually a cheaper alternative then ordinary business loans.
Crowdlending is a special form of crowdfunding, which essentially works in the same way as a commercial business loan but in this case the
creditor is not a bank or financial institution instead the loan is funded through collective financing.
Even though the modern forms of crowdfunding and peer-to-peer loans has been around for some time and is quite well established in some countries around the world, this kind of financing still is considered new and rather unproven in the Nordic countries. However these kind of alternative financial platforms are quickly gaining interest in especially Finland, not least due to the fact that many banks tend to reject loan applications from small and middle sized companies and does neither really care to finance smaller projects.
Looking at the Nordic countries, Finland is undoubtedly the largest crowdfunding country with a market almost the same size of the rest of the Nordic countries all together.
Nordic Crowdfunding & p2p lending platforms
| Booomerang | Reward based project finance funding. |
| Credstep | Flexible corporate finance in Sweden through peer-to-peer business lending. |
| Fellow Finance | Crowdlending both for private persons and companies. |
| Flex Funding | Crowdlending for danish companies, associations and independent institutions. Loan amounts from 200.000 – 5.000.000 DKK. |
| FundedByMe | A Swedish crowdfunding company open for businesses and projects in Denmark, Finland, Norway and of course Sweden. |
| Fundingpartner | Business financing through p2p-loans directed towards companies in Norway. |
| Invesdor | A Finnish fundraising site for businesses. |
| Innovestor | Helps startups find investment capital and the right connections through networking and mentoring. |
| Lendino | Lendino provides a platform for business crowdfunding and crowdlending in Denmark. |
| Monner | Norwegian peer-to-peer loans aimed at Small And Midsize Enterprise (SME). |
| Kameo | Crowdfunding platform focusing on real estate financing in Norway & Sweden. |
| Kreditborsen | Kreditborsen.com (Kreditbörsen in Swedish) is a P2P-lending platform, with both personal and business loans. |
| Pepins | Crowdfunding platform making it possible for great Swedish companies to grow and become even greater through investments from institutions,venture capital firms, angel investors and private financier. |
| Tessin | Real estate crowdfunding in Sweden. |
| Toborrow | Swedish crowdlending site owned by NFT Ventures and Marginalen Bank with business loans. |
Rewardbased Crowdfunding sites
| Crowdfunding.coop.dk – Reward based funding in Denmark |
| Bidra.no – Good deeds and donations |
| Startskudd.no – DNB Bank – Reward based funding in Norway |
How big is the alternative finance sector i Nordic Countries?
A report from CCAF (the Cambridge center for alternative finance) from 2018 shows that online Alternative Finance total volume by Country 2017 in € m places the Nordic countries in the following order:
| Country | 2017 | 2016 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finland | €196.76m | €142m | €54.76m (+38%) |
| Sweden | €196.38m | €86.51m | €109.87m (+127%) |
| Denmark* | €43.47m | €33.18m | €33,18m (+31%) |
| Norway | €11.79m | €4.91m | €6.88m (+140%) |
| Iceland | €0.58m | €1m | €0.42m (-42%) |
| Nordic region | €448.7m | €322.6m | €126.1m (+39.1%) |
*Denmarks largest crowdfunding platform did not participate in the survey this year, thats why the volume/numbers are noticeably lower compared to previous reports.
How many local and foreign-based platforms are currently operating in each country (2017)?
| Country | Platforms (total) | Local | Foreign-based |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway | 21 | 14 | 7 |
| Finland | 17 | 9 | 8 |
| Sweden | 15 | 8 | 7 |
| Denmark | 15 | 4 | 11 |
| Iceland | 5 | 1 | 4 |
International Crowdfunding sites
| Kickstarter – the World’s most famous crowdfunding site operates globally | |
| Indiegogo – an international crowdfunding website founded in 2008 based based out of San Francisco, California, United States | |
| Mintos – Estonian site with global aim both towards businesses and persons | |
| Lendix – a French platform helping lenders and borrowers meet |