Jun. 5, 2014 – PARIS, France — The City of Paris, with the Grande Arche de la Défense serving as the gateway to Europe’s largest business-financial district, hosted a meeting of equity crowdfunding platforms from 10 European Union countries, namely: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. They discussed the growing equity crowdfunding industry which, according to World Bank, will be $92 billion by 2025.
According to the European Commission, equity crowdfunding is a disruptive tool for financing small to medium enterprises and adding capital to newly formed businesses. The crowdfunding platform owners, with the prodding of the European Commission, have agreed to form a European business association solely committed to equity-based crowdfunding. Hence the momentous meeting of minds on May 23. The business association will develop standards on transparency and best practices in the European landscape. Its aim is to inform both business owners and contributors, to protect the crowd from fraud, and install an efficient complaint mechanism.
The 10-nation founding members of the association will welcome any operator from the European Economic Area, and also service providers to join them, as aggregated members. Crowdfunding operators from Denmark, Norway, Switzerland and Sweden have signified their intent to join the newly formed equity association. The association will start operations as soon as the officers are chosen and legal matters are observed. Equity platforms in the EU countries are fully regulated professional intermediaries under the supervision of national financial authorities.
Alessandro M. Lerro, founder of Lerro & Partners, a recognized legal expert on crowdfunding working with The Soho Loft and David Drake, and Bruno Schneider Le Saout, founder and chairman of APPEES-In’Mart, on behalf of the founding members of the association say, “We are very happy about the enthusiasm of the industry and we are sure that this group will create much value for the stakeholders and the investors.”
The Soho Loft is the crowdfunding authority in the financial media landscape. Mr. David Drake, founder and chairman of The Soho Loft, helped found CFIRA (Crowd Fund Intermediary Regulatory Advocates), the US equity crowdfunding advocates association, on March 18, 2012, and set up the first SEC meetings that still confer with CFIRA in the US. David says, “Congratulations to the equity crowdfunding platform owners for establishing the European Equity Crowdfunding Association. This is the right time to focus on equity crowdfunding and to provide small to medium enterprises the much needed capital to start their businesses and sustain them.”
Link to press release