Triodos Sustainable Finance Foundation has acquired a stake in German crowdfunding platform bettervest. With this cooperation, both parties aim to increase investment opportunities in energy efficiency projects for private investors.
Triodos Sustainable Finance Foundation – which is managed by Triodos Investment Management, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Triodos Bank – finances initiatives that accelerate sustainable development worldwide. bettervest offers private investors the opportunity to invest directly in small-scale sustainable energy projects in Germany as well as in developing countries across the globe. These shared objectives make bettervest a great fit for the Triodos Sustainable Finance Foundation. The investment in bettervest is the fund’s second investment in a crowdfunding platform. The first investment was in Duurzaam Investeren in the Netherlands.
Marilou van Golstein Brouwers, Managing Director Triodos Investment Management: “Given the many global challenges our world is faced with today, the importance of investing in renewable energy is continuing to grow. Not only in developed countries, but even more so in developing countries, where access to energy is not always a given. Through its crowdfunding activities, bettervest empowers a larger community to contribute to solving these challenges. They do not only provide private investors the opportunity to actively contribute to the energy transition, but also to making energy accessible for all.”
“Our goal was never to compete with sustainable banks, but to complement them. For us, the cooperation with Triodos represents a big step towards a global energy transition, with a partner at our side that shares our values. Just as organic products have entered into the mainstream in recent years, sustainable investments need to become the norm. To achieve this, we are combining the strength of a bank with the potential of a digital financing platform”, said Patrick Mijnals, founder and CEO of bettervest.
In addition to the investment by the Triodos Sustainable Finance Foundation, Triodos Bank Germany has entered into a cooperation with bettervest. Both the customers of Triodos Bank Germany and those of bettervest value the conscious use of money and want to achieve not only financial, but also social-ecological returns. The cooperation between both parties gives their respective clients the opportunity to discover new ways of investing sustainably while providing them with easier access to complementary offers.
