Abundance Generation - Crowdfunding: Ready for the big leagues?
In just a few years, a small but growing number of online platforms have established themselves as intermediaries for relatively small retail investors seeking long-term, stable investment returns. This case study looks in depth at the historical growth and strategic choices facing a crowd-lending platform focused on matching investors with clean energy infrastructure investments in the United Kingdom.
Abundance Generation, co-founded by Karl Harder, Bruce David and Louise Wilson, has facilitated more than £7million of investment in 8 wind and solar projects from 1,500 people in just 2 years. Meanwhile more broadly, crowdfunding has emerged as a global phenomenon with the potential to disrupt the existing ways in which modern finance is transacted.
Despite these growing trends, a number of questions still remain: What is the potential for crowdfunding as an alternative source of capital for making scalable investments in renewable energy infrastructure? Over the next 5-10 years, what are the different factors - such as regulatory policy, capital constraints and the evolution of crowdfunding platforms - that will influence key decisions to be taken by senior management as it seeks to compete with mainstream banking?