Lendahand

Idea

Introduction

Lendahand is a for-profit company that is on a mission to eradicate poverty all over the world using crowdfunding. We give investors in Europe the chance to invest in people and businesses in emerging markets that don’t have access to the capital they desperately need.

By providing debt financing to SMEs and financial institutions that have strong track records and proven business models, we’re able to help their businesses succeed and grow. As a result, they’re able to create new jobs and improve their local economies.

These companies and institutions then repay our crowd with interest rates ranging from 3-7%. It’s a win-win for both parties in the truest sense. We’re helping fix the broken financial system in developing countries by providing a sustainable investment platform that our crowd of investors love.

Intended impact

Currently there is a $5.2 trillion funding gap between the mature economies of Europe and the U.S. and emerging markets. This currently results in poverty and inequality on a global scale.

Lendahand was founded to use impact investing as a way to help lift people out of poverty. By enabling small businesses and entrepreneurs to be the drivers of their local economies, we're creating a sustainable solution that goes beyond charitable giving.

Many entrepreneurs in emerging markets are left without options when it comes to growing their businesses, unless they want to deal with loan sharks or interest rates they'll never be able to repay.

Likewise, there are very few options for investors in Europe to make a visible impact across the world with their investments.

We're using our unique opportunity as a crowdfunding platform to connect European investors to those entrepreneurs with limited options, helping facilitate the movement of growth capital across continents with ease.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Platform accomplishments

2016: Granted a full license as a European investment platform from the Dutch Authority for Finacial Markets (AFM).

2016: Officially recognized as a B-CORP.

2017: Together with UK-based social crowdfunder Ethex, we launched Energise Africa, a UK-based crowdfunding platform that focuses on SMEs in the Renewable Energy sector in Africa.

2019: Established a joint venture called PlusPlus with Dutch NGOs Solidaridad and ICCO, of which Lendahand owns 40%. This venture focuses on MFIs in the agricultural sector.

2019: Surpassed 7,000 total investors across all platforms.

2019: Reached 1,000 investor reviews with a maintained rating of 9/10 stars.

2020: Reached EUR 75m raised across all platforms.

Awards and media

2015: Awarded Financial Product of the Year by the Dutch Financial Telegraaf.

2018 & 2019: Lendahand was named IEX's ‘Top Crowdfunding Platform of the Year’ in the Netherlands.

2018 & 2019: Named one of B-CORP's 'Best for the World' companies.

2019: Invited to appear at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland as a successful example of the bright future for impact investing.

Lendahand has been mentioned in the following press:

Monetisation strategy

Lendahand charges a "success fee" to the company raising funds for every successfully funded project on our platforms. There are no charges to investors.

The success fee depends on the risk level and maturity of the project. The higher the risk and the longer the maturity of the loan, the higher the success fee, up to a certain maximum amount in order to avoid negative incentives.

The average upfront fee is currently approximately 3.2% for Lendahand projects, and 5.5% for projects on Energise Africa.

In 2019 Lendahand successfully raised and invested EUR 19.3m in their clients, while EUR 7.5m came via Energise Africa.

Our revenues are a function of the total volumes in projects successfully funded on the platform (Q) and the success fees charged per project (P).

Besides fee income, Lendahand's platforms, including Energise Africa and PlusPlus, have received over EUR 3m in grants and subsidies, due to the alignment of key global initiatives with our mission. We expect to continue to make use of these type of funds.

Use of proceeds

We plan to increase Q while reducing P, making us a more competitive source of funding and allowing us to increase revenues.

We aim to raise Q by:
a. Expanding our investment portfolio: Adding to our investment team, introducing AI-based "Algo-lending" into our acquisition processes, expanding our "Co-financing" operations, introducing local currency and USD investments into our portoflio

b. Scaling up our investor growth: Adding to our web development team, expanding into the Nordics & Germany, including new brand awareness initiatives in the Netherlands & Germany

We plan to grow the base of existing investors from 7,000 to over 25,000 investors by 2025, all while maintaining healthy unit economics with an investor lifetime value that is at least 3x the cost of acquiring an investor.

Our focus will shift from focusing on profitability in the short term (currently possible in Q1 2021) instead to profitability in Q1 2023, with a much larger revenue and investor base.