P2P platform Max Crowdfund eyes EU crowdfunding licence
Dutch peer-to-peer property lending platform Max Crowdfund is applying for an EU crowdfunding licence, after a bumper year in which it raised €4.25m (£3.54m) from an equity funding round, increased its deal volume tenfold and funded its largest loan to date.
Max Crowdfund, which is authorised to market property loans in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, New Zealand and the UK, is now looking to take advantage of the new EU crowdfunding rules to expand across the bloc.
New regulations, that came into force last November, aim to create a harmonised crowdfunding framework across the EU, enabling easier expansion for platforms.
Max Crowdfund is using the proceeds from last year’s equity fundraise to finance its expansion, working with local partners in each target country.
“With our joint venture model, we eventually want to launch Max Crowdfund in every country where it is possible,” said Felix Berkhout, chief executive of Max Crowdfund.
Read more: How the EU crowdfunding rules came to be
Since launching in 2020, the platform has raised over €21m for real estate developers and has over 7,000 registered users. It said it uses blockchain technology for transparency on projects and has a minimum investment of just €100 in order to make property investing accessible to everyone.
In January, 421 investors raised €1.24m for a property project – its largest loan to date.
And on 6 April, a loan was funded within two minutes, which was another record for the platform.
Last month, Max Crowdfund joined the UK’s Shojin Property Partners, Simple Crowdfunding and British Pearl to form an international real estate trade association to set up standardisation across the sector.