Fresh funding to accelerate growth and development

Existing and new investors (110 in total) have contributed CHF 1 million to swisspeer’s crowdinvesting campaign. An important part of the investors are also active on the platform as financiers. Swisspeers is an independent online platform that allows companies to obtain loans directly from investors - without the intermediation of a financial institution. For investors, swisspeers offers the opportunity to make interesting direct investments in small and medium-sized enterprises. Since its establishment in 2016, the platform has brokered over CHF 140 million in loans to 650 companies. Based on this development, the startup aims to reach break-even by 2025 and to become more attractive for institutional investors by strengthening its balance sheet. In this coming phase, therefore, the company’s efforts will be steered towards further growth, strengthening its market position with additional capital placements (debt and equity) and expanding the cooperation with Basellandschaftliche Kantonalbank which was established a year ago. More information can be found in a blog post on the swisspeers website.

Tera Technologies reaches 121% target on Seedrs
Established in 2020, Tera Technologies is on a mission to disrupt the electric vehicle market with its flagship product, the MiracleONE, a revolutionary vehicle equipped with a proprietary range extender technology. This implies that the car can have four batteries, providing an extra 80 KM on the journey. The vehicle’s batteries can be charged and swapped at any location, even a home, creating a flexible and user-friendly approach to electric vehicle charging. To this end, the startup has built two drivable prototypes: the first one in Q4 2022 and the second one early this year. The startup’s business model focuses on sales and rentals of its innovative products and services, thus far, it has secured over €100,000 in revenue during a two-week campaign in March 2023, demonstrating market interest.

The recent crowdfunding campaign, which sought to raise £200’000, also stirred up public interest. At the closing, the startup had received £243,280 from 302 investors. The funds will be used to cover production costs for the 55 limited edition MiracleONE vehicles, marketing activities aiming to increase the visibility of TERA's products, broaden the customer base, and drive sales. About 40% of the proceeds will flow into  the pre-production development of the upcoming MiracleTWO model, which is anticipated to be launched in 2024.

Smartpurse | +200k via Conda
A total of 44 investors, with a large proportion being female investors, participated in SmartPurse’s crowdfunding campaign on Conda. With more than CHF 212,600 raised, the campaign was 373% financed. SmartPurse is now financially equipped to further pursue its goal of making independent financial knowledge accessible to everyone, especially women. The startup developed a platform through its web and app platform. The investment will allow the Zurich-based startup to expand its offering and bring its services to even more people.

Funders shuts down
There are around 30 platforms for the various forms of crowdfunding in Switzerland. On the one hand, new platforms are constantly being added, others are being discontinued. With the decline in volume last year, the pressure on the market has increased. Now the Funders platform, launched by the Luzerner Kantonalbank, has announced its closure. Effective immediately, no new projects can be added. " Given the way Funders is set up today, the cost-benefit ratio is lacking from our point of view. Unfortunately, we currently see no signs that this could change in the foreseeable future," reads a newsletter from the Cantonal Bank.

(RAN)