HeavyFinance gains European crowdfunding licence
HeavyFinance has secured its pan-EU crowdfunding licence, enabling the platform to expand more easily across the bloc.
The Lithuania-headquartered lending marketplace, which funds farmers via agricultural finance and green loans, said that the permission will support its target of removing one gigaton of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere by 2050.
“A unified regulation of fintech marketplaces is a big step forward for Europe in increasing the access to capital for small and medium sized businesses,” said Laimonas Noreika, founder of HeavyFinance.
Read more: HeavyFinance announces carbon credit plan
“It also makes the whole market more transparent and safer, as all platforms must be compliant with the regulation by November 2023.
“The climate tech space is developing rapidly and achieving such a licence will leverage efforts to improve sustainable practices developed throughout the supply chain, including providing farmers with regenerative agriculture practices, and guide businesses on what they can do to help reduce carbon emissions.”
The European Crowdfunding Service Providers (ECSP) licence provides easier access to the European market, while outlining a set of unified rules for investor protection, transparency and operating processes.
Read more: HeavyFinance sees growth in investors from Germany, France and Spain
Under ECSP, HeavyFinance will be able to list securities from farm owners looking to raise up to €5m (£4.3m) for transition toward more sustainable agriculture practices.
Climate tech is a growing area of investment, as people become increasingly environmentally conscious. HeavyFinance cited Seedrs research, which found that crowdfunding for climate tech businesses on its equity crowdfunding platform increased by 154 per cent last year.
Read more: HeavyFinance boss says new sustainability standards “will help fight toward net zero”
HeavyFinance lends to agricultural ventures in Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Portugal. Earlier this year it launched green loans, which enable investors to get returns on the sale of CO2 removal credits generated from European farmland.
Look out for our interview with HeavyFinance’s chief marketing officer Darius Verseckas in the August issue of the magazine.