Learn
- Learning Journeys
- Resource hub (coming soon)
Crowdfunding allows your community of supporters, end users, and everyday individuals to actively participate in your funding journey and business evolution. This approach can take many forms, including donation-based, rewards-based, debt, or equity crowdfunding. While donation- and reward-based crowdfunding are often used to support social or environmental initiatives, debt and equity crowdfunding (crowdinvesting) are useful for individuals who want to invest in or lend to companies.
Companies turn to crowdinvesting for a variety of reasons. Some are seeking alternatives to traditional investor relationships, while others want to actively engage their community – recognizing the value of involving supporters and customers early on. Crowdinvesting aligns particularly well with steward-ownership-aligned financing. The principle that control remains with those actively involved in the company often resonates with crowd investors, who tend to care more about supporting the mission than seeking control.
Crowdinvesting typically offers more non-traditional investment opportunities. Alternative financial instruments are not only common – they are often the norm, making crowdinvesting a natural fit for financing approaches that go beyond conventional models.
Crowdinvesting is also well-suited for consumer brands – especially those that want to demonstrate their commitment to steward-ownership and trust that their community will value and support that choice.
Examples of combining steward-ownership-aligned financing and crowdinvesting:
The Happy Pear opted for crowdinvesting to raise capital by selling shares to individuals and community investors. The Happy Pear chose this method because they have a large, supportive community they wanted to include in their equity base. The investment is structured as redeemable ordinary shares issued by their existing Irish entity via an intermediary trust. These shares are issued from the company to a trust known as "STAK The Happy Pear." STAK The Happy Pear serves as an intermediary, managing the shares. When investors contribute to Flynn & Flynn Global Trade Limited T/A The Happy Pear, they receive a certificate of shares, making them economic owners of the company.
Sharetribe was founded in 2011 with the mission to democratize the sharing economy. In a 2018 financing round, Sharetribe’s founders transitioned the company to steward-ownership during which Sharetribe raised steward-ownership-aligned capital from both professional investors and via an equity crowdfunding campaign. The majority of the capital raised stemmed out of a successful equity-based crowdfunding campaign the founders launched in April 2018.
Founded in 2021, VYLD is a German profit-for-purpose startup dedicated to empowering menstruators worldwide while championing radical sustainability. In their second financing round, they raised capital through profit participation certificates and a non-equity crowdfunding campaign. With the support of their community, they raised the capital needed to commence production of their first product, Kelpons.
What kind of products and by whom they are developed and produced has an enormous impact on all our lives and the planet. The "how" is as important to us as the "what" – we want VYLD to grow as sustainably as our algae. That's why we transitioned VYLD into steward-ownership. That means our profits can't be extracted but go directly back into our mission. That's why we don't raise traditional startup funding designed for extremely fast, unsustainable growth and shareholder value. We also want to find healthier ways in our funding. Crowdfunding was one of them.
Haferkater began in 2014 as a small Berlin café serving simple porridge—and quickly grew into a beloved brand with 23 locations across Germany. In the early stages of their growth, Haferkater followed a traditional startup path by bringing in external investors to help fund their expansion. However, as the company matured, the founders realized they wanted to secure Haferkater’s purpose-driven mission for the future by transitioning to steward-ownership. To make the transition to steward-ownership possible, Haferkater needed to buy out its existing investors. Given the company's success, this buyout comes with a certain price tag. Therefore, Haferkater decided to embark on a crowdfunding campaign through the GLS Bank’s platform to raise the necessary capital. The goal was clear: Haferkater aims to "buy itself back" and solidify its commitment to steward-ownership. They successfully raised €3.5 million in subordinated capital.
Take Haferkater off the market with us. Be there when we transfer the company into steward-ownership and thus secure the values Haferkater stands for and which our guests trust in over the long term.