Equity crowdfunding has scaled, but the infrastructure hasn’t
Crowdfunding has come a long way from its early association with donations and passion projects. As I wrote in my Startup Fundraising post, equity crowdfunding has firmly established itself as a credible and scalable fundraising instrument alongside VC, angel investment and (convertible) loans. It’s also one that opens the door for both retail and professional investors to participate in high-growth opportunities.
Today, it’s not just startups turning to equity crowdfunding, but increasingly scaleups as well; leveraging it not only for capital, but for customer acquisition, brand building, and signaling traction to institutional investors. Revolut, Monzo, and BUX are just a few clear examples of how early community-backed capital can evolve into serious growth stories.
In the Netherlands, crowdfunding has grown into one of Europe’s largest alternative finance channels, with platforms raising a record €1.137 billion in 2024 - an increase of nearly 20% year-on-year. Since November 2023, all EU platforms must be licensed under the European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation, bringing greater standardisation and stronger investor protections.
This is all welcome news for founders, but it’s also where some friction and pain points begin to emerge. You’ve just closed your crowdfunding round. The money is in the bank, and now, almost immediately, the real work begins.
Minimising the hidden friction in startup ownership and employee participation
Investors must be registered, ownership structured to avoid governance headaches, and the cap table meticulously maintained. This often means juggling a mix of tools and advisers that rarely speak to one another. Every time there is a change, whether it is a follow-on round, employee allocation or transfer, the process resets. This is the side of fundraising that nobody really talks about. The underlying infrastructure is well overdue for a rethink.
Most equity crowdfunding rounds don’t result in direct shareholdings. Instead, they rely on intermediary structures such as STAKs in the Netherlands, or nominee accounts elsewhere. These structures solve one problem (managing large investor groups) but introduce another: notarial setup, ongoing governance, annual reporting, and limited flexibility without costly and time-consuming legal intervention.
The alternative, direct shareholding, presents its own constraint. Under Dutch law (and most civil-law jurisdictions), every transfer of registered shares in a BV (private limited company) requires a notarial deed, with no exceptions, and costs at least €1,250 per transaction. Every follow-on round, employee allocation or secondary transfer means arranging another notary appointment. For companies with expanding cap tables, this creates real drag and friction.
As a result, founders must choose between heavy administration, or slow and expensive change. Neither option suits the dynamic, high-participation ownership that start-ups require. For angel investors and early backers, the consequences are equally tangible: six months after investing, most have no direct line to the company, limited visibility into their holdings, and no practical way to transfer them if they wish.
A new model for managing complexity at scale
Capable service providers have emerged to help manage this complexity. Crowdpowder, for example, acts as an orchestrator, coordinating legal, notarial and technology partners throughout an equity round, and arranging employee participation, so founders are not left managing every relationship themselves. Our new partnership with Crowdpowder will allow us both to better serve founders and builders by removing even more friction: moving towards a digital plug-and-play solution with minimal legal and administrative cost and burden.
At Kwantor we’ve made it our mission to build the startup infrastructure that entrepreneurs, employees and investors deserve: digitally native and founder-first, with minimal legal and operational friction. Our platform leverages distributed ledger technology to eliminate unnecessary costs and complexity, replacing legacy processes with secure, digital administration.
The result is a future-proof solution, supported by law-firm-vetted, market-standard instruments: vesting and leaver schedules, participation and options plans, and robust assignment agreements, all designed for clarity and confidence.
With Kwantor, founders can configure dynamic vesting and leaver schedules, launch fair and transparent participation plans, customise option grants and exercise conditions, and connect equity rewards to clear legal agreements. Our digital tokens utilise the highest possible level of network security. There is no need for a notary for each exercise or transfer, no requirement for foundation entities, and a seamless, scalable dashboard ensures every stakeholder has a transparent and compliant overview of their rights and contributions.
This is why our partnership with Crowdpowder is a natural fit. Crowdpowder brings equity strategy and execution expertise; Kwantor delivers the technology and legal foundation that removes legacy dependencies for good. Together, we offer start-ups, employees and investors a truly digital, zero-effort solution for managing and allocating equity: the way it should be.
Crowdfunding has already proven that capital can be raised at scale, and Kwantor is here to build the infrastructure to match.