A Dutch outfit providing an online P2P investment platform for people to directly invest in start-ups has launched an English language version of its Web site.
Symbid lets entrepreneurs list businesses - or just ideas - on its site, providing details of the proposition and how much money they are looking to raise - from a minimum of EUR20,000 to a maximum of EUR2.5 million - and how much equity they are willing to exchange.
The platform then acts as a crowdfunding tool enabling investors to put up as a little as EUR20 for a stake in the proposition.
Symbid in 60 seconds from Symbid on Vimeo.
Symbid uses a secure separate bank account for all investments to ensure the money is used specifically for the business idea and until the funding goal is met, investors can freely withdraw their money from one project and put it into another.
When the target amount is met, the investments are fixed and can no longer be withdrawn and all the participants are bound together in one legal entity.
The investors and entrepreneur can then use Symbid's online collaboration community and its tools to communicate, manage and monitor the venture and can also trade their shares.
A social network for education called MaxClass is one of the companies currently bidding for funding on the site, providing details on its product, finances and marketing along with a sales pitch video. The firm is asking for EUR145,000 for a 10% equity slice and has so far secured EUR4800 from 30 investors.