What is B Corp?

B Corp stands for ‘Benefit Corporation’ and is a certification that allows you, as a company, to show that you actually do business in a socially responsible way. Oneplanetcrowd obtained its B Corp certification for the first time in March 2016. Obtaining the prestigious certificate is not easy and an intensive process precedes the award. Indeed, in addition to adding financial value, B Corp companies must make a demonstrable impact on people and the environment. The B Corp certificate shows that a company is not just pretending to be sustainable and is not greenwashing. At a time when sustainability is becoming increasingly important, this is a valuable, reliable certification. 

In March, during B Corp month, many certified B Corporations join forces to increase visibility and awareness around corporate social responsibility. So that in the future, more and more companies follow suit to reduce their footprint and take people and the environment into consideration.

How does a company become B Corp certified?  

Companies get B Corp certification only when they meet the high standards set for their social and environmental impact and must account for it. This includes looking at community, customer, environmental, governance and employee impacts. To become a B Corp, an organization must go through an Impact certification process. The questions relate to sustainability in its broadest sense. In the process, a company must score at least 80 out of a possible 200 points. And that’s not easy. To illustrate, worldwide 55% of companies that complete the questionnaire do not receive the certification.  

Once a company is B Corp certified, they are required to communicate transparently about their score. A B Corp certificate must be renewed annually: thus, companies can lose the certificate even if they no longer meet the strict conditions. In this way, the seal retains its value and authority.  

Which companies are B Corp certified?  

The B Corp certificate has been awarded by the American non-profit organization B Lab since 2006. In the Netherlands and Belgium, the first companies in Europe received their certification in 2015. This number has since grown to about 1,100 companies in Europe, of which more than 200 are based in the Netherlands. Worldwide, there are more than 6,000 B Corp companies in 80 countries.  

Reliance Netherlands (formerly Oneplanetcrowd) has been B Corp certified since 2016. In February 2025, the entire Reliance Group received the certification. Together with our investors, we have provided funding to several leading B Corps in recent years, including Kipster, Fairphone, Yoni, Moyee, Snappcar, Mud Jeans, and Seepje. Other well-known B Corps include Tony’s Chocolonely, Triodos Bank, WeTransfer, and Dopper.

Sustainable soap producer Seepje ‘challenged’ by B Corp certification

Reliance helped sustainable soap product Seepje raise their funding in 2014 and 2017. Back then, they were already working hard to make the world a little cleaner and more beautiful by making laundry detergent, all-purpose cleaner and hand soap from soap husks from India and Nepal. Not only should the packaging and the product be sustainable, but also the people in India and Nepal should benefit.  

Jasper Gabriëlse, co-founder of Seepje, spoke to the editors of The Entrepreneur about their journey to achieving B Corp certification. “We see B Corp as a comprehensive assessment of our impact on all fronts. During the first assessment we scored 84.2 points, but we make it a sport to reach 100. The great thing about B Corp is that it inspires and challenges us to make the company even better,” said Jasper. 

The future as B Corp 

We are looking forward to a future in which we will continue to encourage our crowd to invest in strong B Corp brands. If you want to stay informed about our B Corp opportunities, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on the socials.

The post Impact & Investing: Reliance Group receives B Corp certification first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

Reliance brings together innovative entrepreneurs and forward-thinking investors to accelerate the transition to a sustainable economy. Citizens are also regularly successfully involved in this transition where they can benefit from the returns of local projects. Windpark Fryslân’s starting point was to allow local residents to participate in the revenues from the wind farm in their own neighborhood. Together with invesdor’s investment platform, Windpark Fryslân raised the overwhelming amount of $27 million from 2609 investors in a period of six weeks. This instantly made this project Europe’s largest crowdfunding initiative for renewable energy.

The post Reliance organized Europe’s largest crowdfunding campaign for renewable energy first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

‘That the world needs change is beyond question,’ says Reliance CEO Christopher Grätz. He also emphasizes, ‘But it won’t change on its own – someone has to take action. And, above all, someone has to finance it.’ As a pan-European impact investing platform that emerged from the merger of several platforms from different European countries, Reliance has focused on one key question: If the most significant progress in the world is made by adventurous, entrepreneurial individuals who have the courage to think differently, what if we gave this opportunity to everyone? The opportunity to decide what kind of future they want to pursue? The chance to choose which companies can bring about this change? And the chance to participate in financing it all?

At invesdor, we believe that investors can shape their future by investing in companies they believe in. This forms the basis of our call to investors: Let’s finance the future together. People have long decided – as shown by societal trends in recent years – what this future should look like: more sustainable, more equal, and more responsible. ‘Sustainability is a huge market, with corresponding massive interest and investment capital,’ says Christopher Grätz.

With the merger with Oneplanetcrowd, Reliance has positioned itself as a leading European impact investing platform: Oneplanetcrowd has long pursued a targeted impact strategy, focusing exclusively on projects that have a clear impact on one of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In the meantime, the entire Reliance Group has set the goal of presenting investors exclusively with projects that contribute to a sustainable world of the future. To achieve this, we have formulated two essential sustainability guidelines:

1. All Reliance issuers and their projects undergo an ESG risk assessment before being listed.
2. For all projects, the impact on at least one of the mentioned SDGs is determined through measurable Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The ‘Oneplanet’ label highlights outstanding projects.

We take these guidelines very seriously – they have the same priority for us as credit risk policy does for loans and investment policy does for equity projects.

ESG: Responsible in Three Areas

ESG is one of the aspects at the core of invesdor’s guidelines for sustainable investing. The abbreviation stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance and refers to the three central factors for measuring the sustainability of an investment. Environmental criteria (represented by the ‘E’ in ESG) address how a company contributes to solving environmental issues (e.g., waste, pollution, greenhouse gases, deforestation, and climate change). Social criteria (the ‘S’ in ESG) relate to the treatment of employees and customers by the respective company (e.g., human capital management, diversity and equal opportunity, working conditions, health, and safety as well as misleading sales). Governance criteria (the ‘G’) examine how a company is managed (e.g., executive compensation, tax practices and strategy, corruption and bribery, as well as diversity and structure).

The growing importance of ESG in finance is based on the simple idea that companies deliver high returns when they create value for their stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, and society as a whole – and not just for the company’s owners.

How Reliance Assesses ESG Risks

The ESG analysis can be complex. When considering ESG factors, it is not only about evaluating the products and services of a company but also its behavior, its supply chain, and other aspects related to its corporate governance. As part of our ESG risk assessment, we investigate whether the company has negative impacts on sustainability factors such as environmental, social, and labor issues, respect for human rights, and the fight against corruption and bribery. In addition, we assess whether a company is exposed to serious sustainability risks, meaning an ecological, social, or governance event or condition that could significantly impair the value of the investment if it were to occur.

The goal of the ESG risk analysis is to identify both risks and opportunities and thus uncover potential areas for improvement. At invesdor, we firmly believe that a more forward-looking and dynamic approach is needed when evaluating ESG risks and opportunities. Furthermore, an ideal analysis should not only consider the latest ESG data but also the company’s strategy, overall impact, and evidence that it adheres to its promises and standards. It should also include a forward-looking perspective, so that investment decisions are not based solely on historical data.

The ESG risk assessment is a free analysis that Reliance conducts for every new project that is to be placed on the platform. The goal of this assessment is to answer the following two questions:

1. Does the project harm the environment, society, and/or stakeholders?
2. Could the value of this project be jeopardized by ESG developments?

If the answer to either of these questions is ‘Yes,’ the project will not be included on the Reliance platform.

The table below contains some examples for each of the ESG criteria:

The 6 environmental objectives of the EU, as defined in the Taxonomy Regulation, are:

1. Mitigation of climate change,
2. Adaptation to climate change,
3. Sustainable use and protection of water and marine resources,
4. Transition to a circular economy,
5. Prevention and reduction of environmental pollution, and
6. Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems.

Impact: Doing Good – and How Reliance Measures It

The potential of companies or projects in terms of impact investing is also part of invesdor’s sustainability guidelines. Impact investing means investing in something that measurably contributes to one of the goals for sustainable development, the aforementioned SDGs. It is a form of sustainable investing that goes beyond simply excluding companies or countries. With impact investing, investors achieve not only financial returns but also a positive sustainable impact. ‘Reliance decided to use the SDGs as a framework for determining intended and realized impacts,’ explains Christopher Grätz. The SDGs serve as a blueprint for addressing the biggest societal challenges of our time, such as combating diseases (SDG 3) and renewable energy (SDG 7). Together, the SDGs form a roadmap for achieving peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and in the future. ‘Reliance only awards the impact label to companies in the financial sector that make a positive contribution to at least one of the SDGs,’ says the Reliance CEO.

Where Reliance Draws Red Lines in Terms of ESG and SDGs

To emphasize that Reliance does not compromise in certain areas, we have identified specific services, products, and sectors that are under no circumstances acceptable for the platform and thus cross the red lines. As such no-gos, Reliance excludes projects from companies that:

• Are involved in the production, marketing, or sale of tobacco and cannabis products for recreational use.
• Are involved in the gambling industry or provide services in this sector.
• Manufacture weapons, specifically designed components for weapons, or provide weapons-related services. Companies involved in the production or sale of dual-use technologies. Dual-use technologies are subject to strict scrutiny, as their products must not be intended to inflict physical harm on humans or animals or contribute to such harm.
• Have a high risk of using conflict minerals or those who mine and supply such minerals without making efforts to source conflict-free minerals. Reliance also requires this from its suppliers.
• Operate in the sex industry.
• Conduct animal testing that is only acceptable for legitimate medical purposes, and Reliance does not place companies that do not conduct carefully controlled animal testing based on the principles of ‘reduce, refine, replace.’
• Use animal products or ingredients and do not have animal welfare policies and practices that go beyond legal requirements. We prefer companies that have clear goals for improving animal welfare and actively advocate for better animal welfare standards in the industry, as well as companies that offer plant-based alternatives for the production or use of animal products.
• Do not contribute to sustainable fishing and aquaculture practices.
• Are involved in the production and sale of fur and specialty leather for which animals are bred.
• Cause extensive or repeated damage to biodiversity or are in businesses with a high potential risk of causing such damage without managing these risks.
• Show no awareness of deforestation, do not practice sustainable forestry, and do not source and use responsible forestry products.
• Are unaware of climate change and do not make credible efforts to eliminate their greenhouse gas emissions and find alternatives to non-reducible emissions as quickly as possible.
• Are unaware of the dangers of using hazardous substances and do not contribute to the introduction, development, and promotion of less harmful alternatives.
• Are involved in accounting irregularities or irregularities in compensation that raise significant ethical and moral concerns.
• Offer excessive compensation and remuneration packages for directors that do not comply with local or international standards for best practices.
• Are involved in irregularities related to corruption, bribery, or money laundering.
• Engage in tax avoidance schemes that raise serious ethical or moral concerns and clearly violate local or international standards.
• Are involved in violations of laws and regulations, codes of conduct, or conventions, unless there are indications of structural change within the company that lead to fundamental behavioral changes.

We believe that with the Reliance investment guidelines, we can contribute to perhaps the most pressing issue of our time: the transition to a more sustainable, equitable, and responsible economy.

The post Sustainability: How Reliance Implements ESG, SDGs, and More first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

As the leading European impact investing platform, we at Reliance see this cooperation as an excellent opportunity to support sustainable business models on their growth journey beyond financing.  

Christopher Grätz, CEO of the Reliance Group, has been appointed to the Advisory Board of GICA. Grätz’s commitment reflects our strong commitment to this partnership as a company. In his statement, Grätz underlined the importance of the collaboration and emphasised: “I am very grateful that we can bring all our expertise as Reliance Group to the network to help ensure that funds are invested in the most sustainable growth companies, SMEs and renewable energy projects!” Reliance is active with over 180,000 users and more than 950 projects across Europe with a focus on DACH, Nordics and BENELUX. 

The cooperation between Reliance and GICA gives sustainable start-ups funded through invesdor’s platform easy access to GICA’s extensive network. This provides the start-ups the opportunity to discover synergies and maximise their growth potential. Through invesdor’s support, these companies not only receive funding, but also the opportunity to connect in a global network and work together towards a more sustainable future. 

At the same time, this gives us at Reliance the opportunity to continue to offer exciting, sustainable companies whose growth can be fuelled by our investor base. By integrating into GICA’s extensive network, our investors can benefit from exclusive investment opportunities and actively participate in the promotion of companies that have a positive social and environmental impact. 

The partnership thus not only opens up new financing perspectives for sustainable start-ups, but also offers our investors the chance to become part of a global network that works together on future-oriented projects. We are convinced that this synergy of capital, knowledge and network creates the basis for successful investments and helps to drive sustainable development in various sectors. Reliance is looking forward to working with GICA and jointly paving the way for innovative and impactful investment opportunities. 

The post Reliance launches partnership with GICA first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

Max, you founded Beets & Roots in 2016 together with star chef Andi Tuffentsammer. You offer healthy bowls, salads, wraps and high-quality soups in your restaurants and via online ordering. You first financed your growth via crowdfunding on Reliance in 2019, and you are now in your fourth crowdfunding round. How did you get into crowdfunding? 

At that time, we only had our first three restaurants in Berlin and wanted to expand further. With our ordering system via the internet, we had a real boom phase at the time and wanted to expand that further. We used the capital to open more restaurants. In the meantime, the investors have received their 750,000 euros back, along with 8.5 per cent interest per year and a one-time profit interest of 5 per cent. So it was a complete success for us and for the investors.

Your second funding campaign was then in October 2021, in the middle of a peak phase of the pandemic. Wasn’t that risky?

Corona was like a dark shadow over us at the time. But we wanted to continue the growth course and reach more customers with our own app, among other things, despite the pandemic. It was important for us to become a mobile-first company in the next step, and we made up for it. In addition, we want to take customers and investors along on our journey to climate neutrality 2025, which we had set as a goal. Our products, the brand and our target group fit very well with the theme of sustainability. That’s why we designed the second campaign differently.

What did you do differently from the first time?

This time we did not pay interest on a subordinated loan from our investors, but issued 16,000 shares in our company as participation rights, which corresponds to 8.7 percent in our company. In return, the basic interest rate was lower at 5.0 percent. With the participation rights, we offered investors a new participation model, especially since we tokenised the shares, i.e. issued them digitally. This allows investors to participate in the increase of the company’s value. We were among the first in Germany to choose this path.

Was that well received?

Yes, after only 22 days we had the 1.1 million euros together. The goal of this financing round was to also expand nationwide with restaurants in Stuttgart, Frankfurt am Main and Düsseldorf.

In 2022, a third round of financing for 537,000 euros took place. Did you take the big leap after the Corona pandemic? 

That’s one way to put it. In the third crowdfunding round, the main focus was on financing our new high-frequency locations in Berlin at Potsdamer Platz, at the main railway station and at BER airport. Here, too, crowdfunding was the best fit because we had already won the leases and were able to appeal to the travel industry at the same time. For investors, this was an interesting investment opportunity. We always finance everything in a mix, which means we financed both equity and mezzanine capital via the crowd. In terms of marketing, we focused less on the retail investor and more on the semi-institutional investor.

You also joined a large family office, which brought you 2.7 million euros for 18.5 percent of the company shares. Why did you turn to the professional investor?

For us, it is important to create stable growth, and for that we need a stable financing structure with substantial equity. That’s why we didn’t want to focus everything on the crowd, especially in uncertain times where the equity cushion always plays a big role. We need strong partners, we need a strong equity ratio. That is also in the interest of the crowd. 

Is this participation of a family office directly linked to distributions or does it only rely on an increase in the value of the company?

There are no distributions, we are a growth company and reinvest our cash flow in our growth projects. This is also comprehensible for all existing shareholders and crowd investors. No one has to fear that any shareholders will be served from crowdfunding funds.

How is the fourth crowdfunding round offer constructed?

In terms of company law, it is the same as the first and third rounds, so it is a subordinated loan. But because of the increased interest rate environment, we have also increased the interest rate to 10 per cent. In addition, a one-off success interest of another 10 per cent is possible. The financing costs have risen for us, as they have for all companies, which is why we now have to offer investors a higher return.

What sum are you aiming for and what do you intend to do with it?

For example, we currently have the second contract with Deutsche Bahn in the pipeline for Ostbahnhof, where we would like to open a restaurant. We are hoping for investor money between 500,000 and one million euros. We would also like to use the money to expand the licence business. We already have two licensed stores with partners, for example in Frankfurt. We want to grow in the markets outside of Berlin primarily with licence partners, simply because it enables operational stability and faster growth.

Where does beets & roots stand today, how has the business developed?

We now have 14 restaurants in five major cities. In 2022, we had a turnover of 7.2 million euros including the licence partners. For 2023, we expect a turnover of around 11 million euros. We also have initial cooperations with Rewe and Edeka, which resell our bowls from the freezer. The delivery services Flink and Gorillas have also included our dishes in their range. The desire for healthy, sustainable gastronomy is huge.

You have remained loyal to Reliance as a crowdfunding platform for your campaigns. What are the advantages for you? Why did you choose invesdor?  

At the end of the day, what counts for us is the relationship of trust, which also comes from our circle of shareholders. From the first to the fourth campaign, the cooperation with Reliance has been characterised by a high level of professionalism. That gives us a very good feeling. After all, we also enter into liabilities with this form of financing and want everything to be based on the highest legal and social standards, both for the investors and for us. Reliance guarantees that.

Another huge plus is the flexibility and simplicity. Existing banks are more cumbersome in the financing process than a modern, digitalised partner like invesdor.  In addition, Reliance itself is a growth story and has continued to expand through mergers and continuous improvements to the platform and investor experience. This shows us that we are betting on the right partner.

So further crowd campaigns with Reliance are not out of the question?

Absolutely not! The bigger we get, the bigger the funding pots get, and the mix can certainly change in some way. But the crowd always plays a big role for us. As long as it works for us and for the investors, we want to continue the cooperation.

The post Interview with Max Kochen from beets & roots first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

Maarten, how did you get into crowdfunding? 

Before working for Oneplanetcrowd, I ran an investor network for companies in emerging markets that helped raise capital. Then I got to know the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter in the US when it came to the Pebble Watch, the first smartwatch at the time. The watch had already been developed and was offered for pre-sale on Kickstarter. The company wanted to collect 100,000 dollars, but in the end, over 50 million were raised. It was a huge success and a very effective and innovative way to raise capital. That’s how I got to know crowdfunding and was inspired by it.  

How did the founding of Oneplanetcrowd come about? 

One of the investors in my network was Start Green Capital, a fund company that primarily invests in the energy transition in the Netherlands. When I spoke to one of the fund managers there, it turned out that Start Green already had the idea of a crowdfunding platform for sustainable investments or impact investing in the Netherlands. At the beginning of 2012, we decided to launch that. My job was to bring the platform to market together with Start Green Capital. Since the founding of Oneplanetcrowd, we have financed 300 companies with 35,000 investors and with a volume of around 120 million euros. 

In the meantime, you have announced that Oneplanetcrowd will merge with Reliance Group. Why? 

We announced the merger of Oneplanetcrowd with Reliance months ago, but we have only now received approval from the regulatory authorities in Finland, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. In April we will be able to close the merger formally. But the two companies have already been working closely together since November. First, we want to merge the crowds of both platforms. The goal is to give investors access to all investment projects with just one login. We want to realise it this summer.  

One of the main reasons for us to merge with Reliance was that Reliance is already active internationally and across borders. Conversely, Reliance chose Oneplanetcrowd because we are highly specialised in impact investing here, including projects around renewable energy in the Netherlands. We are now working to build the people, expertise and network for sustainable projects in invesdor’s locations in Finland, Germany and Austria.  

What changes does the merger bring to your daily work? 

As Managing Director Benelux of the Reliance Group, I continue to manage the team in Amsterdam, which looks for interesting sustainable investment projects to offer to crowdinvestors. The big difference is that we can now offer financing projects from our colleagues in Finland, Germany and Austria to Dutch investors. Conversely, we can also offer our investment projects in these partner countries. We expect more “crowd power” with larger business projects and faster capital acquisition via a larger European platform. This opens up many more opportunities. I can also reveal that we are planning, among other things, to expand to Belgium in the near future.

Do you have an example of a successful financing project in the field of sustainability and impact investing? 

Yes, for example, Fairphone. This is an Android smartphone made with metals and minerals from sustainable supply chains that can be repaired and upgraded by the owner. So users don’t have to buy a new smartphone when their old one is broken or obsolete. The project has enormous sustainability potential, as e-waste is also a significant problem of our time. We funded Fairphone in 2018 with 2.5 million euros. The crowdinvestors were among the core investors at the time and have contributed significantly to the company’s profitability today. Now the investors can sell their shares in a new financing round with a good return. That is an excellent success story. 

What kind of funding rounds do you typically organise?

Fairphone is an example of scale-ups, i.e. successfully launched young companies that need to finance their rapid growth. But we also accompany many new renewable energy projects in the Netherlands. Actually, they could quickly raise capital through private equity investors or banks. But for projects like solar panel fields or wind turbine parks, the regional authorities in the Netherlands require that a certain percentage of the capital must be investable by local residents so that the local community also benefits from the projects. Together with the project managers, we then organise a financing campaign in the region intending to increase the acceptance of the projects via citizen participation.  

Does that go down well with the citizens?  

Yes, it is very attractive for investors because they finance a project with a good return and very low risk. Usually, these projects are mature, all permits are in place, and contracts with the grid operators or electricity consumers are already signed. Local citizens share in the revenues and become an immediate part of the energy transition. People like that and it attracts many citizens. 

If renewable energy projects are often a local issue, what is the benefit to investors of a larger crowdfunding platform operating across Europe? 

Local projects indeed remain local for the time being. But often the projects are big enough to attract investors from outside. We often open up investment to outside crowdfunding investors after the local participants had their chance to invest. In this way, German investors will also have the chance to invest in a Dutch wind farm in the future.  

Have the interests of crowdinvestors changed over the years? 

We believe that more and more people in Europe are increasingly interested in investments that offer them both a financial return and a sustainability return. We call this a double return. Our employees, entrepreneurs and investors all think similarly: use business as a source of good. I believe this movement will grow significantly in the coming years.  

Through the combined investor crowd, we will attract more of Europe’s most promising and ambitious sustainable scale-ups. We also want to follow the companies through several funding rounds and offer larger funding volumes as they grow. In fact, the funding campaigns are getting bigger: we started with funding volumes of 10,000 to 20,000 euros, and today, the average is one million euros per project. If we channel this into impact companies, the contribution to sustainability also becomes bigger and bigger. Our impact as a platform will grow substantially.  

Investing money in sustainable investments with a good return does not have to be contradictory. Read more: crowdfunding platforms allow you to invest funds sustainably in a growing market in times of the energy transition and increasing environmental awareness and to advance meaningful projects together.

About Maarten de Jong 

Maarten de Jong is co-founder and CEO of the Dutch crowdfunding platform Oneplanetcrowd. After graduating in Technical Business Administration from the University of Groningen (NL) and spending six months in Sri Lanka, he started working in the Netherlands for the Business in Development Network, where he and his team arranged funding opportunities for many entrepreneurs in emerging markets. He built a network of more than 150 business angels, high net worth individuals, banks and development banks, and venture capital funds. In 2012, he co-founded Oneplanetcrowd with Coenraad de Vries and Laura Rooseboom under the StartGreen Capital umbrella. Oneplanetcrowd specialises in financing sustainable and social initiatives that offer investors financial and social returns.

The post Reliance expands to the Netherlands: “We expect significantly more crowd power”  first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

“I look back on a great time, full of conquered challenges and memorable milestones. We have funded hundreds of SMEs, scale-ups and renewable energy projects and gained the trust of over 30,000 investors. From $10,000 euro funding per project in 2012, we went to over $25,000,000 recently for Windpark Fryslân. Through the successful merger with invesdor, we are now Europe’s largest impact investment platform with over 180,000 investors. And as icing on the cake, just before my retirement, we received the ‘Gouden Stier Award’ for best crowdfunding platform. It is with pride and confidence that I hand over the baton to my successor Ellen Hensbergen.”

– Maarten De Jong, former Managing Director BeNeLux at invesdor

Meet Ellen Hensbergen 

Ellen Hensbergen is eager to start as Managing Director at Reliance and is determined to contribute to its (continued) growth. We speak to Ellen about her background, ambitions and vision for the future of Reliance and making financial and social impact.  

Welcome to the club. We’d love to get to know you better. Can you tell us who Ellen Hensbergen is?  

Sure! I was born in Zeeland on March 8, 1979. Shortly after I moved to Geleen with my parents and older sister. After living in southern Limburg for 4 years, we moved with the family to reformed Barneveld. There they still prayed at school in the morning and read from the Bible at the end of the day. That was an instructive period in which I learned to adapt more easily. I went to study international relations in Groningen, the city where my sister was also studying. I did my internship at the Beijing embassy. There I discovered that traveling made me very happy, but also that the hierarchy and negotiation games made me less happy. On the advice of my sister, I went on a management traineeship at ABN-AMRO. There I noticed for the first time that I really felt at home and that the financial world gave me a lot of energy. When I was declared redundant, I went on a one-year trip around the world with my husband. Once back home, I wanted to get back into financial services. Eventually I became a director at Munt Mortgages. There they believed in transparency, honesty and a quality product and partly because of that I had a huge click with the company and colleagues. What else should you know about me? You can wake me up at night for herring! Without onions, though!  

You have a professional background in the financial world, in the field of mortgages and at various banks. What experience can you bring to the position as Managing Director at invesdor?  

I understand the basics of investing very well because of my background. I have a lot of expertise in customer service, in growing businesses, and I understand how the financial world works. I also understand the relationship with regulators due to my former role within Munt Mortgages. The other side of the story is that I really like challenges and learning new things. A number of opportunities have come along where I was offered a role in the mortgage world, but I don’t want to just “put on another coat” and keep doing the same thing right now. I’m looking forward to learning.  

What exactly does your role as Managing Director entail in terms of responsibilities and tasks? 

Reliance is now an implemented platform. That means it is especially important to start growing. I very much believe in the balance between entrepreneurs and providing value to investors. Ideally, we do that better than other platforms. In process, customer service, experience, transparency, engagement with entrepreneurs and the platform, I believe I can add a lot, but also to take Reliance further into Europe. I want to do this together with the team, which has expertise in areas less known to me. I would like to think from a team effort perspective and it is up to me to set the course in this.  

You are involved with Epic Angels, a network of women executives and entrepreneurs. How important are women in leadership roles to you?  

Epic Angels focuses only on the APAC region, not Europe. All the investors are women. There is still a gap in access to finances for women. I firmly believe that diversity makes your business better. I am therefore happy to contribute to bridging the global gap that still exists in this area.  

Reliance focuses primarily on sustainability and social impact. How do these themes resonate in your own life?  

I have two daughters and I am very conscious of their future. We are far from being the greenest family in the Netherlands, but we do try to make a difference by eating less meat and riding our bikes more. Even when we fly, we try to skip flying the year after for our holidays. We want to feel that we are contributing and definitely have the belief that it starts with ourselves. Also through the position I will now hold within invesdor, I feel that I can start to contribute on a larger scale. Not only idealists can improve the world, certainly companies and people with capital can too!  

What will be the biggest challenge for you, as far as you can estimate right now?  

If we really want to make an impact, we need to grow and become even more visible and findable in Europe. The goal is to become the largest pan-European impact investment platform and be top of mind with every investors and entrepreneurs. I see having projects live continuously as an interesting opportunity. 

How do you invest your own money?  

Through Epic Angels, I recently invested in a scale-up in Bangladesh. A lot of people were dying there because they were given a drug that didn’t work or were given a working drug too late. They developed an app in collaboration with general practitioners and hospitals and set up a very large pharmacy that way, so everyone can now get their medicine within 2 hours. These are, of course, problems of a very different order than what we face in Europe. It’s very cool to be able to contribute to such an impactful project by investing in it.  

What does Ellen do when she’s not working?  

The whole family loves music! My husband plays the guitar, my daughter plays the drums and my other daughter plays the piano. I recently started taking singing lessons. We love making music together, as well as going to concerts or festivals. The most important thing for me is to make memories together. That can be with friends, neighbors, family or colleagues. I invest in doing fun things together. 

The post A warm welcome to Ellen Hensbergen: Managing Director BeNeLux first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

May we introduce? This is Christian Becker.

Christian Becker joined Reliance (former Kapilendo) after 30 years in the classic banking business. He worked at various Berlin banks as an account manager, credit analyst and restructuring specialist. Today, he takes a close look at every company that applies to invesdor.

Christian, you have more than 30 years of banking experience. After so long, you must have developed your own work routines. What do you do first thing when you come to your desk in the morning?

Christian Becker (laughing): Presuming my desk is empty for once, I first check to see if Sales has sent me any new cases. Then it starts: I flip through the balance sheets, look at the figures during the year, check financial plans, check formalities. Then I delve deeper into the analysis.

…Wait a minute, that was a lot of banking jargon, you’ll have to explain that to me in more detail, please!

To sum up: My job is to ensure as far as possible that investors get back the money they invest at the end – ideally plus a bonus or exit participation. To do this, I check whether a company’s business model is coherent at the level of the figures – i.e. income and expenses as well as planned investments. If something seems conspicuous to me, we talk to the company about it or, in the case of very obvious inconsistencies, we take it out directly.

For example?

For example, a company has an outstanding receivable that accounts for a large portion of its reported sales. This may be fine if a large order has been accepted by the contractor, the invoice is not yet due, e.g. due to a payment period granted, and the creditworthiness of the contractor is good. If, on the other hand, the receivable has not been paid for a long time despite being due and there is no information or even negative information about the creditworthiness of the contractor, we will not support the case.

Your platform is also known for its innovative projects. The companies probably can’t be evaluated in the same way as in a traditional bank, can they?

The review process at Reliance is similar to that of a bank. But crowdfunding involves some special features. For example, unlike banks, we do not usually take collateral and financing is often subordinated, i.e. if the worst comes to the worst, the investors can only expect repayment after all other creditors. Therefore, in case of doubt, we prefer to look twice. In addition, we charge higher interest rates than banks, which in turn benefits our investors and reflects the risk.

New ideas in particular need investors, which at first glance seems riskier than, for example, the second-generation family business – is that really the case?

We don’t get into companies at the very beginning of an idea, because developing a product can take years. Even if the idea is top-notch, we cannot predict whether a competing company will launch something similar shortly before the product launch – that would indeed be too risky in the interest of our investors. Therefore, our principle is: the product must already be there. And: the company must have proven that the product is already selling on the market.

You were born in Berlin and also live in today’s startup and founder metropolis. Although the startup scene didn’t really shift to the capital until the 2000s, as a banker you certainly experienced the beginnings?

From the banks’ point of view, many of these companies were and are not financeable. Many founders have very technology-driven and grand visions. The risk of default is too high for classic start-up financing, because the products have not yet been (fully) developed and/or there are no comparable business models yet. I worked for years in the restructuring department of a bank and had to experience how many ideas and plans did not work out due to various reasons – and start-ups in today’s sense were not even among them.

…nevertheless you left the classic banking business. At invesdor, your focus is not on founders, but in many cases on younger companies. What is the attraction?

Banks are mainly open to classic corporate business, i.e.: someone takes over their father’s bakery and to set up the business anew, they need a loan. Or an old-established company needs financing for new machinery. As a crowdfunding platform, we have a slightly different focus. We are also interested in whether the company has an exciting story to tell. This can be traditional companies, such as the Berlin schnapps distillery Mampe, but also completely new products – increasingly in the area of sustainability.

You hear it all the time in the media how Berlin is changing: where there used to be businesses, apartments are now being built, rents are rising, and traditional production is moving to other cities. As an original Berliner, you must have experienced the changes in the city intensively?

Well, that doesn’t affect me so much in my private life. I’m already over 50 and my Sturm und Drang days are long gone. Sure, after all this time, whole districts are no longer recognizable, but whether that happened in the 1990s or in the 2010s, I often no longer know. But Berlin has so many beautiful corners and much of it will hopefully be preserved.

If you were to have visitors from out of town, which of these beautiful corners would you definitely show?

Christian Becker: I hardly have any acquaintances outside of Berlin, my circle of friends is here, so I never wanted to leave. But there is one thing I would show anyone: The Beelitz sanatoriums in Brandenburg are a former lung sanatorium from the beginning of the 20th century. The buildings fell into disrepair during the GDR and sometimes serve as a backdrop for movies – I think the old grounds are worth seeing.

And when you don’t have visitors, what are you looking forward to after work?

To my family, my dog, and in the summer, my allotment garden.

To come back to the time before closing time: What do you think will be the most worthwhile companies to invest in going forward?

These will mainly be projects that focus on sustainability. Already, many companies on our platform are more sustainable – especially from the food and packaging sectors. For us, crowdfunding means bringing companies onto our platform that don’t just need money, but have a story to tell, and bringing these companies together directly with private investors. It is this service that creates added value for both sides and I hope that this business model will continue to spread in the future – with Reliance as a pioneer.

This is why credit analysis is also valuable for your sustainable investment

As more investors turn to sustainable investing and crowdfunding, credit analysis is playing an increasingly important role in assessing the financial health of companies and investments. Companies that commit to responsible practices are likely to be better managed and have better long-term prospects than those that lack clear direction or a responsible approach. But what does credit analysis for sustainable investments actually entail?

What’s behind the credit analysis

Credit analysis for sustainable finance is a comprehensive process that goes beyond traditional metrics such as interest rates, leverage ratios, and probability of default. Rather than taking a one-dimensional view of a company’s financial condition, credit analysts use multiple indices and metrics to assess the impact of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors on financial performance and future sustainability.

The credit specialist:s also examine qualitative criteria such as corporate governance practices, board composition, management quality and strategic vision. They also examine how well a company manages its employees, how it treats its suppliers and customers, and how it complies with ethical standards. How credit specialists at Reliance check the potential of your crowdinvestment Unlike banks, crowdfunding does not usually require collateral in the event of default. Due to this additional risk factor, the credit specialists at Reliance check the creditworthiness of the creditors particularly carefully before they are allowed to start crowdfunding. For example, higher interest rates are calculated than with traditional banking institutions, which benefits both the creditors and the investors. However, if something seems suspicious when analyzing the business models of the respective companies, the specialists take appropriate measures or, in extreme cases, even exclude the companies from crowdfunding altogether.

How credit analysis helps you make your investment decision

The ultimate goal of credit analysis for sustainable investments is not only to provide investors with an accurate assessment of financial risk, but also to help them identify companies that are making positive progress toward becoming more environmentally and socially responsible organizations. By analyzing both quantitative and qualitative indicators, credit analysts can reassure investors that their investments will pay off over time, not only financially but also ethically.

The post Faces of invesdor: Christian Becker first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

At invesdor, we have seen many exciting companies over the years and helped many of them get funded. We always keep our mission firmly in mind: We enable our customers to invest in a better future. Not only do the companies benefit from your investment, but you do too.

You decide how and in which project you invest. At invesdor, we offer you a colourful mix of investment products, business models, sectors and countries of origin. In the following, we present some of the highlights that we and our crowd particularly like, and tell you their stories.

NEOH – European crowd hungry for more

If you are looking for healthy snacks and sweet growth, NEOH is the right choice. The innovative food tech company Alpha Republic GmbH under the brand name NEOH develops and sells confectionery without added industrial sugar or other ingredients that are problematic for health. In 2020, NEOH was one of the fastest growing health food brands in Europe.
Read more about NEOH’s crowdinvesting

Biogena – The most funded company on invesdor

The Biogena Group tells an unparalleled success story. Following the motto “Knowledge creates health”, the company combines the latest scientific findings with ancient knowledge. Biogena’s concept has met with extraordinary investor interest: In 13 financing rounds, the crowd has made it possible to open the Good Health World Center, launch a franchise concept and expand state-of-the-art stores, among other things.
Read more about Biogena’s crowdinvesting

Evobeam – Hidden champion on a growth path

Evobeam is one of the 1,000 fastest growing companies in Europe. With its development and production of highly specialised metal parts, the company makes a decisive contribution to enabling Mars missions to take off, satellites to orbit the Earth and Formula 1 racing cars to take off. On invesdor, Evobeam has completed a highly successful funding. In less than two hours, over 600 investors have invested a total of one million euros in the company.
Read more about Evobeam’s funding round

Friends & BRGRS – When burger love is rewarded with attractive returns

Great burgers with freshly baked burger buns, homemade minced meat and triple-cooked fries at affordable prices. This idea quickly caught on after Friends & BRGRS was founded and the company expanded to many cities in Europe. The founders found like-minded people through Reliance in 2016. The share issue raised 980,000 euros from 560 investors. Just four years later, the company was sold to NoHo Partners, which brought the investors a juicy return of 22.50 %.
Learn more about Friends & BRGRS

L’Osteria – Success recipe since 1999

The company’s history is as lively and tempting as its Italian dishes. In 1999, the first L’Osteria opened in Nuremberg, Germany. Encouraged by the success of their huge pizza and fresh pasta, the founders decided to spread the concept further. Since 2016, we at Reliance have been accompanying this extremely successful path. In 2019, the franchisee, FR L’Osteria SE, decided to rely on the crowd itself. It issued the first digital security in Germany and was able to raise over 2.3 million euros.
Learn more about crowdinvesting with L’Osteria

easyApotheke – Innovative concept for pharmacies

With its concept, easyApotheke AG is turning the market upside down: it combines the strengths of a pharmacy with the strengths of retail. In 2021, the company also took the digital route with crowdfunding. With great success: in just 21 hours, 324 investors invested 750,000 euros.
Learn more about easyApotheke

Falkensteiner Hotels & Residences – The biggest crowdfunding success story in Europe

The traditional Austrian company relies on innovation to meet the requirements of its guests. The concept is working: It once again achieved first place in the winning image ranking in the Leisure & Tourism category.
Learn more about Falkensteiner’s success

We promise: versatile projects and options

As you can see, the portfolio of projects at Reliance is versatile – and your options for investing money via our platform are just as versatile. We will ensure that this will also be the case in the future: that you can invest in the most interesting financing stories in Europe across borders.

Read also:
Step by step guide to the right investment: How to choose the projects that suite you best
Investing sustainably with invesdor
Learn all about how we select your investment opportunities

The post Our success stories first appeared on Reliance - Blog.

As an investor and our client, you may have often wondered how we select the companies we offer to you on our platform. Well, it’s as simple as it is complex.

Simple because our goal has been clear since day one: to bring together exciting companies and investors who, like you, are interested in attractive and promising business models. Complex, because evaluating companies and their growth potential is anything but trivial.

The decisive authority: our Investment Committee

In order to do justice to our claim, we involve a whole range of experts in the process, each with long-time expertise in his or her field, and form our so-called Investment Committee. At this point, we would like to explicitly point out that the decision as to which project you ultimately invest in lies exclusively with you and that we make suggestions to you with our campaigns. Nevertheless, by checking decisive parameters, we ensure that only campaigns that fundamentally meet our quality criteria for good investments find their way onto the platform.

Advisors as first point of contact

But first things first. The first contact between us and potential projects often takes place between the companies and our financing experts around Günther Lindenlaub from the Vienna team. The team is approached by the companies looking for an innovative financing opportunity or it looks for companies that could be interesting for our crowd. “Already in the first conversation we get a good impression of whether the respective company is basically suitable for financing via our platform,” Günther Lindenlaub reveals.

Legal team checks legal structures

In a further step of the process, all other relevant areas of Reliance are involved. For example, our legal team analyses the structure of the company and the existing shareholding relationships on the basis of public registers and reports from national credit agencies as part of a so-called KYC check. In this context, the team also clarifies, for example, who the responsible persons are and verifies their identity. Andreas Knopf from the legal team in Berlin explains: “Before issuing shares, for example, we also take a close look at the company’s articles of association and any shareholder agreements to determine whether there are any obstacles to the creation of new shares.”

Financial expertise in start-ups and SMEs

“After all, we want to offer investors great business models to invest in”

The financial experts, in turn, assess key financial ratios. Niklas Green of the Finnish team, for example, is an expert on young growth companies. “Unlike long-established companies, these have only a brief track record or even no track record at all – as experts, we then have to look closely at where we can find data that enables us to evaluate them in terms of economic potential. After all, we want to offer investors great business models to invest in – and high-quality information to support their decisions.”

Christian Becker and Sabina Bychkar from the Berlin team, on the other hand, know above all how to evaluate the risks of companies from the SME: “Traditional SMEs offer a lot of data according to their history. This flood of figures, which have to be analysed and interpreted correctly, can tell us a great deal about the respective companies – and thus also serve as good indicators for Reliance investors”, says Christian Becker. Sabina Bychkar adds: “In addition to the data of the individual companies, we also look at the situation in the industry in which these companies operate as well as at their business areas. After all, a company can be in such a good position – if the industry in which it is active suddenly goes bad, the tide can turn even for this company, which is solid in and of itself.”

Emotional aspect as a criterion

“How does the company present itself? Is the business model comprehensible? Are the founders experienced? Is the product interesting?”

Marketing also plays a major role in the selection process. Our campaign team is responsible for checking the marketability of the project. “We always look at the company from an investor’s perspective: How does the company present itself? Is the business model comprehensible? Are the founders experienced? Is the product interesting? Are there press releases or comments that need to be explored in more detail?” says Nancy Heinrich from the German campaign team. Bettina Lönnholm-Rask from the Helsinki team adds: “A sustainable economy is very important when investing money. Especially in crowdfunding, a project must also be able to engage investors emotionally, for example by informing how the business case impacts social factors, such as gender equality, education or good health and wellbeing.”

The final word

“Due to our level of digitalisation, we are much more efficient”

The teams’ assessments are discussed in the Investment Committee, in which all of invesdor’s specialist departments are represented as well as the management. The committee is responsible for the investment projects in all three countries – in Germany as well as in Austria and Finland. If the experts from all areas agree that a project meets the decisive criteria, it is offered to investors on the Reliance platform.

“The process that potential projects go through with us is comparable to the tried and tested credit processes at major banks – except that due to our level of digitalisation, we are much more efficient in many phases of this process”,  explains CEO Christopher Grätz.

The human factor

Despite all the digitalisation, one thing should be pointed out: The human factor still plays a major role for us, especially in the selection process of investment projects. The decision as to whether a project would be inappropriate, for example, against the backdrop of a current political or special situation, is still made by people, on a project-by-project basis.

Speaking of individual: now you know how we decide which projects we offer you – and next week you will read about the criteria you should use to decide which projects suit you personally.

Read also:
Our due dilligence process in detail
This is the new invesdor
Fixed interest or equity investments – which type of return are you aiming for?

The post The Reliance Investment Committee first appeared on Reliance - Blog.