Crowdfunding in Europe - statistics & facts
Crowdfunding is a collective way of raising money for venture projects by asking a large pool of interconnected individuals for a small amount of money. It has been speculated that the financial climate after the global economic crisis gave rise to the culture of crowdfunding. However, the first online crowdfunded project is thought to have occurred as early as 1997, when the rock band Marillion was looking to finance a tour after their album release.
On the European market, alternative methods of financing projects grew very rapidly, with the market size reaching more than 18 billion euros in 2018. Within crowdfunding itself, various types of platforms developed, such as equity, debt-based or reward-based crowdfunding. The two most frequently visited by Europeans (excluding the UK) and most successful types of crowdfunding platforms were equity-based crowdfunding and reward-based crowdfunding. In 2018, equity-based ways of alternative financing provided a transaction value of approximately 280 million euros. In terms of European countries in 2018, the United Kingdom was the leader of crowdfunding.
Over time, not only individuals chose to resort to new ways of financing their business, artistic or social ventures. Business enterprises in European countries reached out in search of new ways of obtaining financing to complement more traditional bank loans. In 2018, almost 2.6 billion euros were raised by small and medium enterprises across Europe (excluding UK). As of 2019 in the United Kingdom, alternative financing was still a far less popular and sought-after option as a means of financing for small and medium enterprises.
On the European market, alternative methods of financing projects grew very rapidly, with the market size reaching more than 18 billion euros in 2018. Within crowdfunding itself, various types of platforms developed, such as equity, debt-based or reward-based crowdfunding. The two most frequently visited by Europeans (excluding the UK) and most successful types of crowdfunding platforms were equity-based crowdfunding and reward-based crowdfunding. In 2018, equity-based ways of alternative financing provided a transaction value of approximately 280 million euros. In terms of European countries in 2018, the United Kingdom was the leader of crowdfunding.
Over time, not only individuals chose to resort to new ways of financing their business, artistic or social ventures. Business enterprises in European countries reached out in search of new ways of obtaining financing to complement more traditional bank loans. In 2018, almost 2.6 billion euros were raised by small and medium enterprises across Europe (excluding UK). As of 2019 in the United Kingdom, alternative financing was still a far less popular and sought-after option as a means of financing for small and medium enterprises.
