Enviu breaks Dutch crowdfunding record

Sustainable business developer raises 100.000 Euro on Symbid

Enviu, a sustainable business developer from the Netherlands raised 100.000 Euro using equity-based crowdfunding platform Symbid. Enviu was able to attract 372 investors from all over the world andbreaks the national record. Enviu will use the 100.000 Euro to invest directly in new start-ups developed. This success shows the promise of using crowdfunding as way of raising capital for small companies.

Utrecht/Rotterdam, 07-01-2012 – Enviu calls it practical idealism: inspiring the crowd to combine innovation, sustainability and co-creation to develop solutions for environmental and social issues. These solutions are brought to the market. The first example was the Sustainable Dance Club. Its flagship product is a floor which generatesenergy by dancing on it. Three Wheels United, is another Enviu start-up, which improves the lives of auto-rickshaw drivers in India while reducing CO2 emissions.

Stef van Dongen, founder of Enviu, started this initiative in Rotterdam. Having a background in entrepreneurship (he started his first company at the age of 17), a Master in Global Business Society Management and with his belief in the crowd, he chose to gather capital through crowdfunding. “I believe radical change is needed to solve major issues such as waste, energy and healthy living. The power of the crowd is required to create sustainable solutions. Crowdfunding is a perfect example of using this power”, says the Enviu founder.

This crowdfunding transaction is special because all investors become actual shareholders in Enviu. Symbid, the platform used for this campaign, offers the first international equity based crowdfunding service in the world. Investors become actual owners of the company, and receive a return on investment in the form of dividends and have the ability to sell their shares. Korstiaan Zandvliet, CEO of Symbid, is excited about breaking the Dutch national record. “Enviu was a special project for us, because the founders made a conscious choice for crowdfunding. With this record we’ve shown that equity based crowdfunding can be an excellent addition to the current ways of how companies raise capital.”

The campaign led by marketing expert Kirsten Toeset, used social media to its fullest extent to make people familiar with the crowdfunding proposition. “We are so proud that so many people believe in Enviu and have invested in our world-changing start-ups, ” said Toeset. She adds: “Due to this overwhelming success we know that collaborative investing is the way to go, therefore we plan to offer the opportunity to directly invest in our projects with our very own crowdfunding platform in the near future”.

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About Enviu
Enviu develops innovative solutions to environmental and social issues and introduces these to the market. We collaborate with a large group of young entrepreneurial people, senior executives, corporate partners and universities to co-create these innovative businesses. For more information http://www.enviu.org

About Symbid
Symbid is the first investment platform where investors can directly invest from as little as € 20,- in the equity of start-ups or existing businesses. Any entrepreneur is able to achieve growth or to raise capital via Symbid. Symbid recently reached the finals of the Shell Live Wire Award and is among the most innovative companies in the Netherlands. For more information http://www.symbid.com

Enviu breaks Dutch crowdfunding record