Call to regulate crowdfunding
MIPIM UK NEWS: Thomas Schneider, chief investment officer of German investment platform BrickVest IM, said that one of the biggest problems crowdfunding projects face is a lack the regulation and professionalisation to attract a range of investors.
He said: “The crowd is often seen as stupid, and that is why we need to professionalise. With more regulation, you get a bigger audience of investors.”
The platforms, Chris Gourlay, chief executive of Spacehive, said, could not simply replicate the model of projects like Kickstarter. In order to build trust and fund projects the size of real estate assets, they need to be tailored to a market.
MIPIM UK NEWS: Thomas Schneider, chief investment officer of German investment platform BrickVest IM, said that one of the biggest problems crowdfunding projects face is a lack the regulation and professionalisation to attract a range of investors.
He said: “The crowd is often seen as stupid, and that is why we need to professionalise. With more regulation, you get a bigger audience of investors.”
The platforms, Chris Gourlay, chief executive of Spacehive, said, could not simply replicate the model of projects like Kickstarter. In order to build trust and fund projects the size of real estate assets, they need to be tailored to a market.
Gourlay said: “It is not about rebranding Kickstarter, you have to make substantial changes. You have to have an ecosystem of money that isn’t just fivers and tenners coming from friends and neighbours.”
Thomas Bostock, head of international development at WiSEED, however, said that crowdfunding has an image that younger property developers want to be associated with. Platforms like WiSEED target smaller developers and SMEs and have the potential to be seen playing a key role in providing them with funds for growth, the panel said.
On the investor side, Dan Miller, founder of Myrtle Grove Ventures, said that individuals are also looking to connect to property developers in a way where they can choose and see more clearly what they invest in. With some, like Spacehive, partnering with local councils, investors have the opportunity to target projects they are personally interested in.
There is a market, he said, that does not see that potential in a “huge East Coast fund in the States”. Crowdfunding could connect investors who would otherwise not invest in property with businesses that want new platforms with a modern, connected image.
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