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Helaba Promotes Energy Transition via Crowdfunding

Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen ( website) together with the Deutsche Leasing Group (website) launched its own crowdfunding platform. The pilot phase is currently running with several savings banks. The aim of the cooperation is the strategic bundling of competencies in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe for projects to expand renewable energies.

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Helaba and Deutsche Leasing have partnered to offer more investment opportunities to everyone interested in investing through crowdfunding.

In crowdfunding, many people participate in a project with smaller contributions, thus enabling its implementation even without large investors. This form of financing had experienced continuous growth in Germany before the pandemic. In 2019, the threshold of €52 billion was just exceeded for the first time. After interim declines, the previous record value is expected to be exceeded again next year, according to Statista.

Market researchers expect growth of around 10 percent in four years, from €50.93 billion this year to €56.41 billion in 2027.

It is often online platforms or private initiatives that offer crowdfunding opportunities. According to Giromatch, there are currently around 150 crowdfunding, crowdlending, or crowd-investing platforms in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. A wide variety of providers are active here, with different orientations and focuses.

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Helaba offers access to citizen participation

An upcoming topic is the participation of citizens in energy transition projects such as solar systems, energy routes, and wind farms. The expansion of renewable energies can be accelerated in this way. Project developers see a range of solutions for citizen participation as a prerequisite for the allocation of external financing. Active involvement of local people also increases acceptance.

Helaba Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen ( website) together with the Deutsche Leasing Group ( website) launched its own crowdfunding platform. The pilot phase is currently running with several savings banks. The aim of the cooperation is the strategic bundling of competencies in the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe for projects to expand renewable energies. Helaba is thus adding another attractive component to its sustainability offering, according to Frank Nickel, a member of the Helaba Management Board.

Clear division of tasks

At Deutsche Leasing, reference is made to the high investment requirements for the expansion of renewable energies. This requires new, diverse financing and investment offers. It is precisely this gap that the two cooperation partners want to fill:

“Through the joint offer, we can present complete financing solutions, from the contribution or securing of participation by the citizens to the tailor-made long-term external financing.” Rainer Weis, Member of the Management Board of Deutsche Leasing

The cooperation partners have agreed on a clear division of tasks. Helaba has commissioned the construction and operation of the platform. The company acts as a contact for the savings banks and explains the possibilities of the digital platform. Deutsche Leasing supplements this service with debt financing and structuring. The savings banks are responsible for selling the projects locally and passing the business on to Helaba.

Thematic supplement

There are already a few other crowdfunding projects in the area of ​​public banks, but so far none with a focus on the energy transition. An initiative of regional savings banks, for example, collects in the crowdfunding project “ 99 Funken“ Money for sustainable and social projects on-site and supports them through co-funding.

There is also bwcrowd (founded in 2014), a cooperation between the Baden-Württembergische Bank and the Fairplaid platform, which is primarily active in the sports environment. In addition, the VR Crowd of the Volks- und Raiffeisenbanken, in which the VR-Bank Würzburg is the leader (2018), and the GLS Crowd of the social-ecological GLS Bank (2017), both of which are linked to the Portagon platform ( website, formerly CrowdDesk) cooperate.

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(Featured image by EdWhiteImages via Pixabay)

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First published in IT Finanzmagazin, a third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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J. Frank Sigerson is a business and financial journalist primarily covering crypto, cannabis, crowdfunding, technology, and marketing. He also writes about the movers and shakers in the stock market, especially in biotech, healthcare, mining, and blockchain. In the past, he has shared his thoughts on IT and design, social media, pop culture, food and wine, TV, film, and music. His works have been published in Investing.com, Equities.com, Seeking Alpha, Mogul, Small Cap Network, CNN, Technology.org, among others.