The latest Crowdfunding Monitor 2023 from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences has been published, providing detailed insights and important findings across crowdsupporting/crowddonation, crowdinvesting, and crowdlending.
For crowdfunding—the various forms of internet-based financing—volume in Switzerland fell from 791.8 million francs the previous year to 662.4 million francs, a decline of 16.3%. After overcoming the pandemic-induced slump and recording strong growth again in 2021, this clear decline was registered last year.
Causes include global economic instabilities and changed interest rate levels. For the current year 2023, similar volume as 2022 is expected. Since the founding of the first crowdlending platform Cashare 15 years ago, over three billion francs have been facilitated digitally in Switzerland.
Crowdlending Remains Market Leader
Although crowdlending volume declined 18% compared to 2021, crowdlending continues to account for the largest share at CHF 497.5 million.
Real Estate Crowdlending fell 32.4% to CHF 282.7 million in 2022. A key driver in this subsegment is loans to companies in the real estate business. Many of these loans are only short-term and are later replaced by banks. Another cause for the decreased volume is greater investor restraint.
SME Crowdlending Growing Again
Only the SME crowdlending segment has risen again. Interrupted by Corona and 0% Covid loans from the federal government, the SME sector is back on the rise and grew to 141.9 million francs in 2022.
Loan Purposes
Major differences remain in loan purposes:
- Business Crowdlending: Project financing, debt restructuring, or short-term loans for liquidity management
- Consumer Crowdlending: Loans for debt restructuring, education, cars, travel, or weddings
- Real Estate Crowdlending: Mortgages to individuals and bridge financing for real estate developers
Market Potential
Although crowdlending financing grows strongly year after year, volume remains modest compared to banks. For example, consumer credit volume through crowdlending fell from just 2% of the total Swiss consumer credit market (2021) to a mere 1.6% (2022).
Crowdlending still has significant catching up to do in expanding its market share at banks' expense in the coming years.
Your Cashare Team!
