Crowdfunding platforms should be more transparent: report

Crowdfunding platforms in the Netherlands should come clean on how many of the projects and companies they support are unable to pay back the money, according to a new report by consultancy Douw & Koren.

Douw & Koren estimate €128m was raised through crowdfunding in the Netherlands last year, double the 2014 figure.

However, the rise in popularity of crowdfunding means bankruptcies are inevitable, and investors can lose considerable sums of money, website Nu.nl says.

Transparency

‘Dutch crowdfunding platforms have a lot to learn from Britain,’ said consultancy founder Gijsbert Koren in a statement. ‘British platforms present real figures about repayments and average returns on their websites. Not one Dutch crowdfunding platform does this. Investors can only invest wisely when platforms are 100% transparent.’

Last year, more than 3,500 projects in the Netherlands were financed by crowdfunding, the consultancy says. Of these, 1,208 were businesses, 856 were creative projects, 1,247 were social projects and 374 were consumer loans.