Last week, following 2 years of preparation, Seedmatch launched the first p2p equity service in Germany. Startups can pitch for up to 100,000 EUR (approx. 142,600 US$) funding. Investors can bid amounts starting form 250 EUR.

Due to the legal and regulatory situation Seedmatch uses a construct (“Stille Beteiligung”), where investors do not become shareholders of the funded startup, but rather participate on the profits of the company. Founder Jens-Uwe Sauer says: “… the silent partner’s holding are structured at Seedmatch to participate on dividends and capital gains of the start-ups. It was important for us to offer a good solution for both sides – for the micro-investors a fair deal and for the startups a manageable financial model.” (translated from German by P2P-Banking.com).

The startups have the choice to buy-out investors after 6 years. The Seedmatch model thereby gives much more control to startups and less rights to investors in comparison to Symbid and Crowdcube. On the other side the raised funding is not paid out in one sum, but rather in steps according to milestones reached (which were specified in the pitch). Seedmatch charges startups 5 to 10% of the raised amount.

Currently there are 2 pitches running. After a few days funding level already reached more than 15%. The maximum duration for a pitch is 60 days.

Long text interviews (in german language) with the founder are available at Gruenderszene and Foerderland.