The crowdfunding platform Seedmatch has to compensate an investor financially. But the bigger problem lies in a clause that could invalidate tens of thousands of other contracts.
Onecrowd Loans, the operator of the popular crowdfunding platform Seedmatch, may be confronted with legal consequences: A recent ruling by the Dresden Regional Court obliges Onecrowd Loans to pay compensation to an investor who invested in the now insolvent startup Protonet via the Seedmatch platform to be paid in the amount of 5,000 euros.
read too
The reason: A contractual clause that, according to a court ruling, puts Seedmatch’s crowd investors at a disadvantage. Crowd investors are private individuals who can invest in selected start-ups via the platform from 250 euros. Like the lawyer responsible, Lutz Tiedemann told the Handelsblatt, the crowd investors carry a much higher risk of losing their money than all other investors because of this clause. According to him, if a start-up gets into financial difficulties, the demands of the crowd investors are behind those of other creditors. It would not first take bankruptcy for investors to experience a total loss of their investment.
Onecrowd commented to the Handelsblatt: “Onecrowd Loans GmbH will appeal against the judgment because we give ourselves a good chance of being successful here.”
The seed match operator is not concerned with the amount of compensation in this individual case, but with the fact that the court’s decision might also invalidate the contracts of tens of thousands of other crowd investors.
Startups could also be held accountable
According to Tiedemann, if there is no effective subordination clause, there is a deposit business for which companies need a banking license, as the lawyer told the Handelsblatt. The court ruling convinced him that investors can assert claims for damages against platform operators, managing directors and start-up entrepreneurs in such a scenario.
If the verdict stands up, it would have far-reaching consequences, since the affected clause could also be in the contracts of tens of thousands of other investors who, according to the company, have used the platform so far.
According to Seedmatch, it has had almost 200 rounds of financing to date, raising a total of 73.5 million euros with the help of 80,500 users. In the case of Protonet alone, more than 18,000 small investors were involved nine years ago, raising a total of three million euros. Some of the more prominent examples include companies like air taxi company Volocopter, food brand Veganz and data center start-up Cloud & Heat.
read too
