Financing Swiss crowdfunding market grows again for the first time since 2021

The Swiss crowdfunding market grew again in 2025 after three years of decline. The volume of financing brokered via online platforms rose by 14 percent to 629 million Swiss francs, as reported by Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) on Monday.

Keystone-SDA

18.05.2026, 11:12

SDA

In 2021, the market had reached a record of just under CHF 792 million. Volumes then fell continuously.

According to the "Crowdfunding Monitor Switzerland", the main driver of the recovery last year was crowdlending, i.e. the brokering of loans via online platforms. This segment accounted for a good 75% of the total volume.

Real estate project financing saw particularly strong growth: The volume in the "real estate crowdlending" segment jumped by 38 percent to CHF 275 million.

Platforms benefit from stricter banking regulations

The authors of the study cite stricter banking regulations as an important reason. Since the beginning of 2025, banks have had to deposit more equity for riskier real estate loans. This will make traditional bank financing more expensive and more cautious, explained Andreas Dietrich, head of the study, in a press release. Crowdlending platforms will benefit from this gap.

Crowdsupporting and crowddonating also increased for the first time since 2020. Crowddonating is primarily used to finance social, charitable or cultural projects via donations without receiving anything in return. In crowdfunding, people usually support creative, cultural or sports-related projects and receive a product or other consideration in return. The total volume increased by 30 percent to 35 million francs. Sports and health projects were particularly popular.

The "Crowdfunding Monitor Switzerland" has been conducted every year since 2014 by the Institute of Financial Services Zug IFZ of HSLU with the support of Swiss crowdfunding platforms. One of the aims of the monitor is to identify the drivers of future developments and to further increase the transparency of the crowdfunding market.