A crowd-lending platform for positive impact

A new platform is helping to democratise investing by making it easy for retail investors to support impact projects

Spotted: Want to invest in green technology, but don’t know where to begin? You are not alone. According to the Global Impact Investing Network, the impact investment market reached roughly $715 billion (around €658 billion) in assets under management in 2020. But this market can be difficult for retail investors to break into. Enter fintech startup GoParity, and its platform that brings together social and environmental impact projects looking for funding with people who want to invest in sustainability. 

The Lisbon-based startup has created a ‘green bank’ of projects looking for investment.

For-profit and non-profit organisations can use the platform to raise funds and promote projects, and GoParity will develop a campaign for a flat rate.

At the same time, investors can use the platform for free to find opportunities, with many investments paying interest in the first month. Investors are also able to see detailed information about each project, including the number of investors and descriptions of how the funds will be used.

GoParity has recently raised €2 million in an investment round and €600,000 from the platform’s users. Founder and CEO Nuno Brito Jorge, explains: “With this round, we want to take GoParity to the next level: bringing impact finance to our users’ daily lives so that they can, in every investment, account, or transaction be sure that their money is being used in line with their values.”

Investing through crowdfunding is gaining a lot of ground, and empowering diversity and democratisation by creating a community-led approach to impact investing. Springwise, has spotted innovations ranging from a funding platform aimed at early-stage climate startups to software tools that support ESG investing.

Written By: Lisa Magloff