We know: For real change we need to join forces. Together with you, our community, we want to use money as a lever for sustainable change and therefore cooperate with great partners.
We are part of the social business movement. Solving social challenges is our calling. A company that also pursues this mission is Wiwin. Via the WIWIN platform, we implement our crowdinvestings. In this interview, Matthias Willenbacher, founder of WIWIN, tells us why crowdinvesting is especially important in the current times and what values Tomorrow and WIWIN have in common.
How has crowdinvesting developed in recent years?
Matthias Willenbacher: Crowdinvesting is becoming more and more mainstream. When we started with WIWIN, there were only a few platforms, each with a very narrow offering. In the meantime, investors can build up a very targeted portfolio from a relatively broad offering, knowing exactly what their money will be used for. This makes it attractive to more and more private individuals. Added to this are the attractive returns, which are generally fixed for several years. This attracts new investors - especially now when the stock markets are so unstable.
What impact do the multiple crises of our time have?
Corona and the Ukraine war are leaving deep scars in the financial world, that's quite clear. We see the same thing with private individuals, who are sometimes less able to invest due to rising prices. People are more selective about how they invest their money. But that's exactly the beauty of crowdinvesting: Here, investors can choose very precisely which projects they want to support and what amount they are willing to invest.
In your opinion, what role does crowdinvesting play in the field of (startup) financing?
Crowdinvesting is becoming increasingly important in this area. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that since Corona and the outbreak of the Ukraine war, it has become significantly more difficult for startups to obtain financing through traditional channels (source). On the other hand, the young companies have the chance to turn their own fan base into supporters through crowdinvesting, which can be a great lever to generate further growth. Tomorrow, for example, has proven this with great success with the first two crowdinvestings via WIWIN in 2020 and 2021.
Which of the WIWIN campaigns have surprised you the most so far?
In principle, there were two campaigns that surprised me a bit. In the summer of 2019, we raised one million euros in just a few days for Voltstorage, a battery storage startup from Munich. I was honestly unsure beforehand whether such a technical and explanation-requiring product would catch on so quickly with our crowd, but it worked wonderfully. And the fact that it took us just a few hours to raise three million euros for Tomorrow in the fall of 2020 was really a milestone - for WIWIN and for Tomorrow.
What opportunities do you see in the cooperation between Tomorrow and WIWIN?
What connects the two companies is the same understanding of sustainability. Anyone who invests with WIWIN knows exactly that there is no greenwashing here. It's exactly the same at Tomorrow. We are all pulling in the same direction - and you can see that in the cooperation. In addition, both teams are teeming with people who really want to change and drive things forward in the field of green finance. That's why it's such a good fit between WIWIN and Tomorrow. We have already shown this with the two crowdfunding campaigns in 2020 and 2021, and the third campaign will be just as successful - I am firmly convinced of that.
About WIWIN
WIWIN is one of the leading German online platforms for sustainable investments with a clear vision: to put money on the good side. Founded by energy transition pioneer Matthias Willenbacher, the company provides capital to project owners in the real estate and renewable energy sectors, as well as to founders with a sustainable business model. From just a few hundred euros, private investors can invest in green projects and innovative startups through WIWIN via crowdinvesting.
The numbers speak for WIWIN:
over 14,500 investors
62 financed projects with a total volume of around 140 million euros
2022 tested by Euro am Sonntag and rated "very good"
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