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Symbid in a nutshell

Symbid provides the crowdfunding infrastructure that enables individuals to actually become partial owners of exciting new companies! Symbid offers a Affiliate Program for partners who send users to the Symbid system. Read more about Symbid's Affiliate Program here. Symbid brings together entrepreneurs and investors so they can realize the funding of new and exciting business ideas.

Investors use the Symbid infrastructure to discover and invest in promising business ideas that could well be the next big thing! Anyone can invest from as little as EUR 20,- all the way up to EUR 2,500,000 for each investment opportunity: you determine the size of your investments! 

Entrepreneurs use the Symbid infrastructure as an innovative way to obtain start or growth capital with help from the crowd:

Looking for seed or growth capital?

Entrepreneurs start their capital search at Symbid

Companies and individuals submit a business idea for a new venture or a growth plan for an existing venture which we call a "Proposition" or "Idea". When you, the entrepreneur, register your proposition at Symbid, you indicate how much capital is required to start or grow your business. Symbid  requires a registration fee of EUR 250,- (exclusive of VAT) for existing companies. No registration fee is required if you're getting started with only a great idea and no legal entity. Reaching your target capital depends on the amount of funding needed, the strength of the pitch and your marketing efforts. Symbid  provides the means to create the ideal mix of ingredients for success!

An innovative capital search tool

Symbid offers start-ups and small- and medium-sized companies access to a completely new and substantial capital market.

Low cost access to capital

Using Symbid is free for start-up entrepreneurs and investors. Existing companies pay a small fee 250,- Euro (exclusive of VAT) for their registration. Because our services are mostly free we can offer low cost access to capital. Also we make it easy and affordable for anyone to join as a potential investor.

Investors of an equity raise are bundled as one shareholder

The legal structure developed by Symbid enables the bundling of all investors into one shareholder within the legal entity of the entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, this saves you the burden of handling hundreds of shareholders within your own entity. 

Safe and secure online administration

All investments are registered and processed online for optimal user convenience. This way, a safe and secured environment is ensured for your investments. Entrepreneurs are in control of the information they share in their propositions and decide what information to disclose. Symbid enables propositions to be sent in the form of a secured invitation to a potential investor or to be made available to the entire community of investors registered on Symbid. It is your call!

Great tools for entrepeneurs

Dashboard for Entrepreneurs

Our Dashboard for Entrepreneurs is where entrepreneurs work on their crowdfunding campaigns. You can register your idea and work out the business plan step-by-step on the dashboard. We walk you through the process, prompting you to upload a video and other materials that help present your idea. Another tool we offer you is to plan the marketing of your crowdfunding campaign. When you finish the steps on the dashboard, you will be familiar with the platform tools, and your business plan and idea presentation will be investor-ready!

 

Promotional tools

Some of the most important aspects of a successful crowdfunding campaign are the promotional tools to market your idea and spread the word about your dream. Symbid offers the most extensive set of promotional tools to support your crowdfunding campaign in the industry. These tools will be available when you have finished the Crowdfunding Campus and start your capital search. Each campaign has different stages. As your campaign evolves over time, the tools that support you also must evolve. Symbid offers a comprehensive set of tools for each stage of your campaign. The sooner you begin, the sooner you can leverage these tools to your benefit! So why wait starting your own crowdfunding campaign right away? 

Looking for great business opportunities?

For investors,  Symbid offers a wide variety of propositions from new companies looking for starting capital and from established companies looking for growth capital. The entrepreneur decides how much information he discloses and how to present his proposition, and the platform presents the propositions in a standardized format. Making an investment on the platform is a matter of a few clicks. Select the business idea you would like to invest in, click invest and select the number of parts at a nominal value of EUR 20,-. Complete the transaction either by paying directly or use the pre-uploaded balance in your wallet. Investing in a new and exciting company just became easy!

Payments are possible with all common payment methods

Parts can be purchased with all common payment methods like CreditCard, iDeal and PayPal. You can either choose to invest directly into an idea or first upgrade your wallet and create a warchest before you start investing on the platform.

Manage your investment portfolio online

An investor's ultimate dream is to be the first on-board to a very promising start-up - to become Facebook's Peter Thiel. Once you have obtained several investments on the platform, you can easily manage these in your investment portfolio.

Secure environment for your financial transactions

The online payments are secure and the money is stored on a separate Trust bank account at our partner InterSolve until the capital requirements have been reached. When the target capital is reached, the money is wired to the notary and the contracts are executed, ensuring that investors receive their ownership certificates and entrepreneurs receive their funding. Transactions are executed only when the full target capital is reached, by doing so we adopt the all-or-nothing funding principle.

You are in control of your investments

Before the proposition reaches completion of the target capital, you can choose to withdraw your investments at any time and direct them towards an alternative proposition. You have ultimate control over your investments. And the best part is that switching your parts from one idea to another is free of any charges! 

The crowd becomes one shareholder

After a successful campaign, each investor owns a stake in the new legal entity (the Investor Cooperative with limited liability) in the proportion of their investment to the overall investment amount. This new legal entity buys the predetermined amount of shares associated with the predetermined level of funding granted to the entrepreneur. Investors get pro rato voting rights in the Investor Cooperative, which also processes the distribution of dividends. 

Refund possibility to your bank account

If your preferred proposition is unable to reach its target capital, and you are not willing to invest in another idea on the platform, the amount invested may be refunded to your bank account. Refunds can be processed as long as the parts are in your wallet and not allocated to an idea. Parts can be desinvested from an idea until the target capital has been reached. For more information see our FAQ

Angel vs. Crowd Investors

Every entrepreneur could use a business angel to increase the chances of success. A large number of active business angels can be found on the platform. For these investors, the platform presents an easy way to connect with entrepreneurs. Interesting propositions are only a mouse-click away. Symbid has several interesting partnerships with business angel clubs. Next to that we offer discount to business angels on the platform. Investors with more than EUR 5000,- of invested capital on the platform will be charged only 1% of administration costs, where the crowd investors will be charged 2,5% exclusive of VAT.

Online collaboration between entrepreneur and investors in the InnerCircle

Entrepreneurs and investors may access their secured online collaboration community, the InnerCircle, as early as the fundraising phase. Investors within the investor community can join forces to actively support and direct the venture towards a successful and profitable growth path. Using various tools, entrepreneurs and investors monitor the company's progress and interact with one another. In addition, individuals have the ability to transfer their stake in the company to other internal or external investors.

Partnerships with leading global companies

Symbid works together with leading global partners to support entrepreneurs in every possible way and to strive for proper accounting practices and minimize risks for entrepreneurs and investors.

Limited service available to US investors

Currently the equity-based crowdfunding services of Symbid are not accessible for investors from the United States. However Symbid aims at offering its equity based services to investors and entrepreneurs in the United States as soon as the JOBS-act (signed by President Obama on the 5th of April 2012) has been implemented by the SEC. Investors and entrepreneurs from the US can make use of our pledging system which does not rely on selling shares and is therefore legal for US citizens. 

How it works in four simple steps
Step 1 First, you must fill your electronic wallet on Symbid. You can do this with IDEAL, VISA, Mastercard, PayPal, Mistercash and Giropay.
Step 2 You can invest money from your wallet in ideas simply by clicking the 'invest' button of the idea.
Step 3 The investors of each proposition on Symbid are bundled into a cooperative that acts as a single shareholder in the entrepreneur's company.
Step 4 The entrepreneur and investors work together to realize the idea and create a solid business around it.

Looking for the next iPod?

Entrepreneurs are always creating innovative, exciting products to fill the needs of consumers. Unfortunately these products do not always make it to market. A couple key reasons for this are that the entrepreneur does not find the right distribution channels or the product lacks the required funding to be distributed.  Symbid now offers a unique solution for entrepreneurs to reach their buyer and for forward-thinking consumers get ahold of the next big thing: Entrepreneurs present their products, or "perks", on the platform and you can order these perks by making a pledge.   

Pledges and perks

Pledge: the term "pledge" originates from the promise a contributor makes to fund something once a certain threshold is reached. In this case the threshold is the target funding to develop the  particular proposition described on the platform.

Perk: a reward or product set by the entrepreneur, which can be the products the company intends to sell or is selling. Perks are only produced and sent to pledgers if the target funding has been wired to entrepreneur. Read more about pledges and perks in our FAQ.

Service accessible worldwide

The pledging services on Symbid are available on a global scale. This does imply every entrepreneur can start a crowdfunding campaign and collect pledges and on the other hand pledges can be collected from everywhere around the world. This opens a very new playing field for entrepreneurs around the globe in order to sell their products and raise funds to fuel the business.

Best of both worlds

As you know, Symbid offers the possibility to start a campaign to raise equity for your company, however we imagine you first want to try and sell your new products instead of your equity. We offer entrepreneurs the possibility to start off with a pledging campaign, and if the pledge campaign does not succeed, the entrepreneur is able to continue with a campaign to raise equity. There is one simple goal: obtain the required funding to fuel the business.

Payments are possible with all common payment methods

Pledges can be processed with all common payment methods like VISA, MasterCard, iDeal, PayPal, BanCash, BMC and MisterCash. The pledged amount will always be wired directly. If the campaign fails, the pledged amount will be refunded, including the administration costs of 3%. Read more about the costs for pledging in our FAQ.    

Secure environment for your financial transactions

The online payments are secure and the money is stored on a separate Trust bank account with our partner InterSolve until the capital requirements have been reached. When the target capital is reached, the money is wired to the entrepreneur. Transactions are executed only when the full target capital is reached, by doing so we adopt the all-or-nothing funding principle.

We care about your rights

Symbid's model is designed to provide maximum protection for its members. Symbid has taken the utmost care designing its processes and structures to offer maximum security and confidentiality to its members. The tax and legal structure has been prepared and reviewed by professionals from highly regarded companies like BDO advisers and accountants and AKD lawyers This legal framework serves to the interests of all stakeholders and minimize any chances of abuse.

We care about your funds

InterSolve EGI BV guarantees the contributed funds on the platform are safe and controlled under supervision of the  Dutch Central Bank and Authority Financial Markets. Refunds can be processed to a bank account whenever you want as long as the target capital has not been reached. InterSolve is licensed as an Electronic Money Institution in accordance with the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Act on Financial Supervision). As such, InterSolve is authorized to issue electronic money (or holds an equivalent authorization in other countries in terms of the Electronic Money Directive to issue electronic money).

Fiscal and legal structure equity-based crowdfunding

Symbid uses a unique framework to ensure the fiscal and legal requirements necessary to run a safe and secure online investing platform. The benefits of using our structure are as follows:

» Earnings on capital gains and dividends

» Indirect voting rights in executing Dutch entity

» All transactions occur online

» Only one transaction per proposition at the notary office

» Membership certificates of cooperative are subject to limited transferability

» Financing up to EUR 2.5 million per business idea

» Money can be refunded from the wallet to the bank account