During consultations with businesses, ING Belgium representatives will assess which platform may be suitable and discuss how it works. Using the ING fast track procedure it only takes the entrepreneur a couple of clicks to submit an initial campaign enquiry for review. When Seedrs receives a project through this new route, it will be assessed within two days to determine if it’d be a good fit for Seedrs and equity crowdfunding.
Seedrs CEO Jeff Lynn says:
We are very excited to be working together with ING in making equity crowdfunding more easily available to the Belgian business community. To our knowledge this is the first time that a well-respected, global financial institution like ING has partnered with a leading international equity crowdfunding platform like Seedrs, and we think this relationship is very encouraging for the future of business finance. We’re proud to have been chosen as ING’s partner for this venture, and we see our selection as further validation of our ‘equity crowdfunding done properly’ approach.
(Source: company announcement)
My take: With this cooperation the bank can explore which role it can fill for startups and small business that seek alternative finance without investing in technology. If successful, then the bank can take and stay on the role of advisor for a client, it might otherwise have lost completely to a fintech.
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