Digital Invest Germany - German Crowdfunding Association

What Digital Invest Germany - German Crowdfunding Association does

Digital Invest Germany (legally Bundesverband Crowdfunding e.V.) is a non-profit industry association founded in 2015 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It represents 30+ digital investment platforms operating in Germany, spanning crowdfunding, crowdlending, real estate investment, and sustainable finance. Notable members include FunderNation, Bergfürst, Companisto, Conda, Exporo, WIWIN, GreenVesting, VR-Crowd, secupay, and ecoligo, as well as professional services firms such as GÖRG Rechtsanwälte. The association's core functions are to provide member working groups for best-practice development, enforce a Code of Conduct and Reporting Guidelines for investor protection, conduct regulatory advocacy with the German Government, Parliament, and supervisory agencies, and facilitate networking among member platforms.

The association operates on a subscription-based membership model with Full, Associate, and Member tiers. It does not develop or operate a proprietary technology platform; rather, it provides membership services, policy papers, events, and a code of conduct framework. The organization is led by a board comprised of executives from member companies, with Uli Fricke (CEO of FunderNation) as President, Dr. Guido Sandler (CEO of Bergfürst) as Deputy President, and Karsten Wenzlaff as Secretary-General and CEO. Daily operations are supported by approximately 10 employees.

The association has expanded beyond its national remit through partnerships with the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA, joined January 2025), the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA), and the World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC). It celebrated its 10-year anniversary in 2026. The rebranding from Bundesverband Crowdfunding to Digital Invest Germany reflects a strategic realignment to encompass the broader digital investment ecosystem beyond pure crowdfunding.

Name

Digital Invest Germany - German Crowdfunding Association

Legal name

Bundesverband Crowdfunding e. V.

Website

https://digital-invest-germany.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Digital Invest Germany is a Berlin-based non-profit industry association representing 30+ digital investment platforms in Germany, providing regulatory advocacy, Code of Conduct standards, working groups, and European-level policy engagement to support crowdfunding and digital finance platforms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Crowdfunding Industry Association

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Policy, Data Governance & Cybersecurity Standards Cooperation (BPADANAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

Keywords

• Digital investment platforms
• Crowdfunding industry association
• Regulatory advocacy services
• Investor protection standards
• Trade association services

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership fees: Digital Invest Germany generates revenue through membership fees from its member platforms. The association offers different membership tiers including Full Members and Associate Members. Members gain access to working groups, regulatory advocacy, industry networking, and the association's Code of Conduct and Reporting Guidelines.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Digital Invest Germany is a non-profit industry association (registered as Bundesverband Crowdfunding e.V.) that represents and supports digital investment platforms operating in Germany. The association provides members with working groups for industry best-practice development, a Code of Conduct and Reporting Guidelines for platform standards, regulatory advocacy with the German Government, Parliament and supervision agencies, and networking opportunities through events and European alliance memberships (EDFA, GECA).

Product overview

Digital Invest Germany (formerly Bundesverband Crowdfunding e.V.) is an industry association that supports digital investment platforms in Germany rather than offering a standalone product or SaaS platform. The association provides member services including working groups for industry best practices, a Code of Conduct and Reporting Guidelines, regulatory advocacy with German government and supervisory agencies, networking among member platforms, and a platform finder to help investors discover digital investment opportunities. The association itself does not operate a product platform but facilitates collaboration among its member companies which include crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, and digital finance platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Full Membership
• Associate Membership

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• European Digital Finance Association (EDFA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Digital Invest Germany joined the European Digital Finance Association (EDFA) in January 2025, enabling network expansion beyond national borders and active contribution to European digital finance dialogue. The membership provides access to European-level regulatory discussions, coordination with other national fintech associations, and participation in EDFA working groups including ECSP-R Working Group, Fintech Café sessions, and EU policy advocacy.
• World Alliance of International Financial Centers (WAIFC)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2025Digital Invest Germany participates in WAIFC EU Roundtable meetings, engaging with international financial center representatives. CEO Karsten Wenzlaff attended EU Roundtable in Frankfurt (September 2025) alongside Sibos 2025 and in Tallinn (April 2026) for the spring meeting.
• Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2015Digital Invest Germany is a proud member of the Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA). The association's CEO Karsten Wenzlaff joined GECA's Steering Committee in September 2025. GECA membership facilitates international industry initiatives, development of global crowdfunding standards, and cross-border platform collaboration. Multiple member platforms (BERGFÜRST, CONDA, secupay, ecozins) have also joined GECA through Digital Invest Germany's network.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• UK Crowdfunding Association: UK national trade association for crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending platforms. Functionally analogous to Digital Invest Germany — national industry body providing advocacy, standards, and Code of Conduct for member platforms — but operating in a different regulatory regime (FCA rather than BaFin).
• Global Equity Crowdfunding Alliance (GECA): Global industry alliance for equity crowdfunding, of which Digital Invest Germany is a member and whose Steering Committee the CEO recently joined. GECA is the international counterpart performing industry-standard setting and cross-border advocacy for the same membership base.
• European Digital Finance Association (EDFA): European-level umbrella association for digital finance platforms, of which Digital Invest Germany is itself a member. EDFA is the most directly comparable peer — it performs the same advocacy, working-group and Code-of-Conduct-style functions but at EU level, making it both a peer and an upstream partner.
• European Crowdfunding Network (Eurocrowd): Brussels-based pan-European network promoting alternative finance and crowdfunding. Directly comparable as a peer association focused on policy advocacy, research, and best-practice exchange for the same crowdfunding/digital-finance member community across Europe.

Broad incumbents

• Bundesverband Deutsche Startups: German national startup and digital-economy association. Comparable as a peer industry body based in Berlin with similar policy-advocacy and working-group functions, but with a broader startup mandate rather than a focus on digital investment platforms specifically.
• Bitkom: Germany's largest digital-industry association. Comparable as a major German association performing digital-policy advocacy toward government and regulators, but covering the entire digital economy rather than specializing in investment platforms.

Regional players

• Nederlandse Vereniging van Crowdfundingplatforms (Dutch Crowdfunding Association): Dutch national trade association for crowdfunding platforms. Closest geographic peer to Digital Invest Germany — same continental European regulatory context under ECSP-R — and performs analogous advocacy and self-regulation functions but for the Dutch market.

Others

• Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (German Publishers and Booksellers Association): Long-established German trade/industry association. Not a direct competitor but a structurally comparable peer organization — a registered e.V. with member-driven governance, working groups, and sustained policy engagement with the German government — useful as a benchmark for association scale and operating model.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/digital-invest-germany-bundesverband-crowdfunding

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Digital Invest Germany - German Crowdfunding Association