The crowdfunding market is growing

CROWDFUNDING In 2014, 15.8 million francs were raised through crowdfunding in Switzerland - compared to 11.6 million francs in the previous year. These are the findings of the "Crowdfunding Monitoring 2015" study by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts and Swisscom.Crowdfunding is a way of raising and investing money via the Internet. Four different Forms of crowdfunding Crowdinvesting (money in exchange for a stake in a company)- Crowdlending (money in exchange for interest)- Crowdsupporting (money in exchange for goods/services)- Crowddonating (no direct consideration)For the second time, the Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts has taken a close look at this market in Switzerland and presented the results in "Crowdfunding Monitoring Switzerland 2015". The research team analyzed data from all 15 active platforms in Switzerland last year. Since 2011, the volume has increased fivefold 15.8 million francs were raised through crowdfunding in Switzerland in 2014 - 36% more than in the previous year. The money raised was attributable to 1078 campaigns, as the fundraising phase is known. Almost half of the total volume was generated by crowdsupporting/crowddonating, 29% came from crowdinvesting and 22% from crowdlending. The crowdsupporting/crowddonating and crowdlending segments in particular grew massively from 2013 to 2014: by 82% and 95% respectively.

In 2014, 854 campaigns were financed in crowdsupporting/crowddonating out of 1434 campaigns launched. Market for consumer loans is growing rapidlyThe rapid growth of crowdlending is as follows: Consumer loans granted increased from 1.8 to 3.5 million Swiss francs, and the number of campaigns rose from 116 to 214, all of which were successfully funded. Casharethe very first crowdfunding platform in Switzerland. For the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts monitoring, it provided all the data on the loans brokered between 2008 and 2014. Their analysis enables a characterization of the borrowers: their average age is 38 years, 76% are men and over two-thirds are Swiss, one-fifth have at least one child under the age of 16 when they take out a loan, 37% are married and 19% are homeowners. 60 percent of all loans arranged since 2008 have gone to people under 40. People over 60 were borrowers in four percent of successful projects.

Compared to 2011, the volume of consumer loans has increased fivefold.Popular type of financing for music projectsFor monitoring purposes, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts also took a closer look at the area of crowdsupporting/crowddonating, which has grown steadily in recent years: in 2011, 300,000 francs were raised, last year it was already 7.7 million francs - 854 of 1434 campaigns launched were successfully financed. In 2014, just under CHF 1.5 million was raised for 216 music, concert and festival campaigns, an average of around CHF 6,850. However, the "Technology, Business, Start-up" campaigns also raised around 1.5 million francs. However, this only required 40 projects, for which an average of CHF 36,600 was raised.

Crowdfunding has become particularly well established in the "music, concerts and festivals" sector.The figures on crowdfunding in Switzerland are collected annually by the Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. On www.hslu.ch/crowdfunding the current study can be downloaded free of charge.