KBC launches its Bolero Crowdfunding website

Bolerocrowdfunding.be set to be a hub connecting businesses with investors

Bolero Crowdfunding aims to offer entrepreneurs and investors a platform from which to stimulate business growth in Belgium. It will soon give investors the opportunity to make a direct investment of 25 to 1 000 euros per crowdfunding project in Belgian businesses. Entrepreneurs seeking funds to help get their businesses off the ground will in turn be able to connect with potential investors. Entrepreneurs will be able to obtain up to 300 000 euros for their project through Bolero Crowdfunding. Businesses with greater financing needs will also be able to use Bolero Crowdfunding to get up to five million euros in financing through private placements.

Bolero Crowdfunding is a supplementary financing solution for start-ups that are developing a new business, product or service and that are prepared to give crowdfunders a stake in their business through shares or convertible bonds. For more well-established businesses, it is a way to find investors willing to help them grow by investing in bonds.

How Bolero Crowdfunding works

Businesses interested in approaching the Belgian investors community through Bolero Crowdfunding can become members and submit a crowdfunding application by means of an online form. They have to indicate a number of things, including the way in which they want to obtain financing (whether through shares, ordinary bonds or convertible bonds) and the types of products and/or services they offer. Businesses fulfilling the necessary legal requirements will be given access to their own special part of the crowdfunding website, which they can use to get their campaign up and running. It will give businesses digital space to unveil their business case online and convince potential investors to invest in their project.

When potential investors are convinced of a project and want to help fund it, they'll be able to invest the amount they want to put into the project through an online payment system. Payments can be made by debit card, credit card or credit transfer. Once a crowdfunding project has been successfully financed through Bolero Crowdfunding, the funds raised will be transferred to the business concerned.

Investors will be able to build up and manage their investment portfolio by means of a personal account. They will also receive updates on businesses that interest them and be able to ask entrepreneurs questions and send them feedback through the Bolero Crowdfunding website. As is the case with other crowdfunding initiatives, investors will manage their own portfolio and need to be aware of the risks associated with these types of venture capital investments.

Anyone interested in Bolero Crowdfunding can now sign up on the Bolero Crowdfunding website.

Crowdfunding offers additional financing and investment opportunities

With Bolero Crowdfunding, KBC is providing businesses with an alternative way of acquiring finance when they're starting out through equity crowdfunding and private placements. It also gives venture capital investors access to new types of investment opportunities in the form of a select portfolio of promising young start-ups and more mature Belgian growth companies.

Koen Schrever, CEO of Bolero Crowdfunding, explains: 'Some of the businesses that showed interest in applying for Bolero Crowdfunding through our website are already well on their way to getting the equity crowdfunding they need. Other businesses still need to work out their business plan in more detail or adjust their legal structure before they can go through us and approach crowdfunders. Some of the first businesses to present their business case on bolerocrowdfunding.be have already secured venture capital early on in the proceedings. Crowdfunder backing will give them a considerable boost in their search to obtain funding.'

KBC Securities Entrepreneurial Summit

More than 500 interested potential investors attended demonstrations and presentations on innovation, entrepreneurship and crowdfunding. 

During a non-stop trade show, over 20 promising young start-ups pitched themselves to potential investors, who had the chance to meet the start-ups and established entrepreneurs in person with a view to investing in what they saw as businesses with potential. It was a valuable opportunity for interested crowdfunders to meet the entrepreneurs that interested them and get a better idea of their products and services.

Visit https://bolero-crowdfunding.be/kbc-securities-entrepreneurial-summit for a full list of businesses applying for Bolero Crowdfunding. Here are just two of the many businesses we quite soon expect to see on the website:

Inclusie Invest

Inclusie Invest is a co-operative company combining the efforts of the health-care sector and a group of committed private individuals. It aims to build special, affordable housing for people with disabilities near to their existing network. To this end, it wishes to obtain at least 100 000 euros in additional capital from investors, enabling them to finance a substantial part of a housing unit.

NeoScores

NeoScores, one of the first Start it@kbc start-ups, has developed a web application for rendering, sharing and using sheet music. As well as acquiring venture capital, NeoScores wishes to attract crowdfunders so it can offer potential customers more than just a product. It hopes to make them actual stakeholders in and ambassadors for their business. NeoScores was recently voted second-best 'tech start-up' in the world at the 2014 Startup Nations Summit in Seoel.

To learn more, please contact:

Koen Schrever, Bolero Crowdfunding CEO

[email protected]

02/429.04.10