Value of crowdfunding investments in the Netherlands 2012-2020

Dutch crowdfunding investments decreased by more than ten percent in the first half of 2020. Crowdfunding involves the investments with or lending of relatively small amounts of money by a large group of investors to private individuals or companies. Usually, this happens through an online platform. There are roughly four types of this relatively new form of investing: donation, sponsorship and reward based crowdfunding, loan based crowdfunding and equity based crowdfunding. In 2015, the total market volume of equity based crowdfunding in the Netherlands was worth approximately 17 million euros. Between 2012 and 2016, the total value of crowdfunding investments in the Netherlands increased from 14 million euros in 2012 to a value of approximately 170 million euros in 2016. Whilst investments and the familiarity of these investments have increased, though, so have the warnings from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) on the risks involved in crowdfunding.