Nordic crowdfunding pioneer Invesdor receives €1.9m funding to execute its European growth strategy

Invesdor Ltd held a closed equity offering on its platform at the end of 2019, raising €1.86m from a selected group of large-scale investors, current shareholders and employees. With this round of funding, the company plans to continue its expansion to European markets.

Invesdor, founded in Finland in 2012, is a part of Invesdor Group, managing digital investment platforms in the Nordics and DACH region. Collectively the Group’s platforms have facilitated more than €150m in investments over their lifespan. 

Invesdor is an industry pioneer on the Nordic market that has historically concentrated on equity fundraising for growth companies. The company has long held ambitions to grow into one of the major crowdfunding platforms in Europe and took a major step in its efforts in May 2019 as it merged with the Austrian crowdinvesting platform Finnest. 

Finnest is a market leader in the German speaking DACH region for debt-based crowdfunding for middle-sized (Mittelstand) companies. After the merger, Invesdor Group is one of the only truly cross-border crowdfunding operators with both equity and debt offerings.

The new 1.9 million euro funding will be used to fuel the growth of Invesdor in the Nordic and DACH markets.

“I am happy to see that Invesdor attracts interest among the international large-scale investors”, says Invesdor CEO Lasse Mäkelä, post-offering. “This funding of almost €2m supports the execution of our new, international growth strategy, which is also a positive signal for our ownership.”

International potential a draw for large-scale investors

Mäkelä believes that crossing borders sets Invesdor apart from its competitors. “We’ve been a European pioneer in our field in many ways, also with our internationalization efforts: ours was the first major merger between crowdfunding platforms.” 

Invesdor’s Chairman of the Board Tero Weckroth has noticed both Invesdor and the industry in general develop a great deal since Invesdor was founded in 2012. The interest from major companies toward crowdfunding has increased and the funding rounds are constantly growing. “We’ve also developed and grown as a company along the way. Our aim is to be among the major players on the European market; we are also searching for a new CEO that’s ready to lead Invesdor to the next level.”

Out of the €1.9m invested, a total of €1.6 million came from five large-scale investors. These included Invesdor’s past shareholders, VC funds of Speedinvest and asset management company Taaleri. 

The two largest investments, however, came from new shareholders. The lead investor in the round with €750k was a vehicle of WJM Investments (MPI sro) by the family of Henry & Malgorzata McGovern. Mr. McGovern was the founder of AmRest, which is a leading multi-brand international restaurant company in Europe with a market cap of over €3bn and over 2,200 restaurants across 26 countries. The second new shareholder is the Nordic Angel Fund, which is owned by Corporate Equity Partners Ltd and European Angels Fund S.C.A. SICAR.

About Invesdor Group:

Invesdor Group is a digital fundraising and investment platform company, licensed to help companies from 28 countries in the European Economic Area (EEA), and currently actively operating in six countries: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Germany. The Group is headquartered in Helsinki, with offices also in Vienna and Stockholm, team members operating in five countries and investors across the world.

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