Geldvoorelkaar has now been screened by the AFM and is waiting for a permit to mediate credits. “We want rules. We want to guard against over-crediting. We will not allow someone who is up to their neck in debt.” Until that permit is obtained, Geldvoorelkaar uses the knowledge and experience that the founders gained when they were still working for a bank to screen applications. “We check whether the application comes from a serious entrepreneur. He has to submit an accountant's statement, show annual figures and a healthy cash flow.” Many applications do not pass the screening. “We received eighteen million euros in applications last year; 90% of them were rejected.”
For the enthusiast
The remaining 10% that did pass the inspection in 2011, 385,000 euros, is still far from bahamas phone number list enough for the platform to continue to exist. “We are aiming for ten million per year,” says Van Schelven. That will be difficult, if not impossible, expects Piet Duffhues, emeritus professor of corporate finance at Tilburg University. “Crowdfunding is only suitable for small capital providers. Often it involves small amounts, sometimes no more than 25 euros. They want to contribute a little to ambitious goals and accept that a high return will probably not be achieved. So it is something for the enthusiast.”
In itself it can grow and become more mature, but crowdfunding as the way to channel masses of money outside the banks, that is also not what economist Mathijs Bouman sees happening. “Then you talk about risk capital and then that typical informal character of crowdfunding disappears. If the amounts become larger, the self-interest also becomes larger. And money and self-interest are ultimately made for each other,” according to Bouman.
In addition, to achieve turnovers of ten million or more, the platforms will have to focus on established entrepreneurs anyway, according to Duffhues, but "they have too great a need for capital. For that, they will continue to rely on the traditional savings and capital markets," according to Duffhues.