frankly.green is a new crowdinvesting platform that helps green companies and projects in emerging markets raise money from retail investors.
If you have a green company, or want to finance a green project for your business, you can submit an application to frankly.green. If your application is successful, you will be able to use the frankly.green platform to present your business to our crowd of German and European retail investors for fundraising, giving you the opportunity to raise a 6-figure loan for your business.
At frankly.green we bring together companies that want to go green and investors who put emphasis on financial return and environmental protection.
frankly.green is based in Frankfurt, Germany and currently serving businesses in Ghana, Rwanda, Egypt and Peru.
THE frankly.green PLATFORM
We finanance a wide range of environmental and climate protection measures, including clean energy, waste management, agriculture, sustainable transport, etc.;
We work exclusively for local SMEs in Ghana, Rwanda, Egypt & Peru. You do not need a European subsidiary or international business to raise finance on frankly.green;
We have a dedicated team of finance experts to guide you through the entire Crowdinvesting process. Our team understands your local market, your business and your funding needs;
Our local partners - such as Wnagara, BDO, Nexus Analytica & GIZ - will assist you with your credit/impact analysis, monitoring and even provide technical assistance if necessary.
Crowdinvesting is an alternative way of financing a project or company. Instead of asking a bank for a loan, you use the internet to raise small amounts of money from a large number of people. Your business loan now comes from many small investors on the Crowdinvesting platform. When you repay your loan in the coming years, they make a return on their investment.
DO YOU HAVE A GREEN COMPANY OR PROJECT?
frankly.green can only finance companies or projects through green investments. A green investment must have a positive impact on the environment, for example by reducing the pollution of air, water, land, etc. or by contributing to the protection, restoration and/or sustainable management of ecosystem health and resilience.
“Green investments” are not limited to specific sectors. In fact, there is green investment potential (e.g. energy and resource efficiency) in almost every sector, from the extraction of raw materials, through manufacturing, to services. Yet, the following sectors may be considered as particularly relevant due to their a) high potential for negative impact on the environment and society; b) high potential for positive impact regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation.
MANUFACTURING AND ENERGY
CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDINGS
AGRICULTURE AND WATER
FORESTRY AND FISHERIES
WASTE AND RECYCLING
TOURISM AND TRANSPORT
WHAT frankly.green CAN OFFER YOU
frankly.green offers you access to a large crowd of German retail investors that can lend to your business;
We connect you with retail investors through our internet platform frankly.green;
We will provide you with the necessary legal documents and many different guidelines to help you fundraise – from marketing, to video making, to monitoring;
Our dedicated team will help you and your company prepare and guide you through the fundraising process;
We supply all technical facilities, from platform to payment services, to investor reporting;
Our marketing team will market your company to our crowd of retial investors.
HOW DOES frankly.green WORK?
APPLICATION In the first step you submit your application
SELECTION We contact you to discuss your business plan and assess your financials
PREPARATION Together, we prepare your Crowdinvesting campaign
FUNDRAISING Now, we present your company on frankly.green top collect your money
PAYOUT We transfer the money to your account and you start investing in your business
CRITERIA FOR frankly.green FUNDING
Type of investment:
Subordinated debt.
Loan volume:
The loan amount is flexible and can start from as little as 80.000 EUR.
Loan currency:
All loans are in EUR, thus the ability to absorb EUR loans and/or ability to mitigate FX risk is essential.
Loan tenor:
2 to 5 years; exception up to 7 years.
Collateral & Security:
All loans are unsecured, meaning that we do not ask you to pledge any of your companies assets or property to secure your loan.
Financial viability:
The investment is financially self-sufficient and/or the company possesses sufficient assets and revenues from its ordinary business activity to service the debt.
The business has been operating for at least 3 years and been profitable over the past 2 years
Ideally audited Financial statements of the 3 most recent financial years.
Environmental and health & safety permits in place, and organisational capacity to manage environmental and social risks.
Impact:
Ability to demonstrate that the planned investment will have a positive impact on the environment
Crowdinvesting offers many advantages over other forms of finance.
Our loan terms and conditions are very flexible and can be structured to suit your needs. Interest rates are competitive and instalments can be quarterly, semi-annually, or even annually. All loans are unsecured, meaning that we do not ask you to pledge any of your companies assets or property to secure your loan. You can use the funds flexibly, whether you need capital to buy fixed assets or working capital or something else. You decide.
Besides the financial advantages, preparing your Crowdinvesting campaign also has multiple marketing benefits.
Companies profit greatly from the marketing material that we help them produce, such as pictures, videos and texts. Most of this you can use long after your campaign. Informing your network of suppliers, customers and business partners of your Crowdinvesting campaign increases your companies visibility. Combined with the marketing frankly.green will do for you, you end up with a greater outreach and more prominent position in the market.
Raising money from European investors can also help you promote your company outside your country. Some of our customers use the opportunity to specifically get in touch with and target diaspora investors, while others want to expand their network in the business community here in Germany, for example with a potential supplier.
Since everyone can invest, frankly.green is a great way to allow people from your country who live abroad to invest in you company. If you have contacts among the diaspora community, you can promote your Crowdinvesting campaign among them and open up a whole new funding base. Our marketing team will be happy to assist you with your efforts.
How long does it take to get funding for my company on frankly.green?
How quickly after applying you can get your money depends on a couple of factors that we have described for you below:
first, we need to make sure that your company meets our criteria to be allowed on the platform. How long this assessment takes is mostly up to you, but we generally allow between two weeks and one month;
second, we need to prepare your Crowdinvesting campaign. This means getting all documents ready, signing the contract and preparing marketing material for your campaign. We will guide you through the entire process but for some of it we rely on your cooperation. For example for pictures of your company. The quicker you provide us with what we need, the quicker we can start fund-raising;
now, the actual fund-raising begins. How long it will take depends primarily on the attractiveness of the offer. The more attractive your campaign is for investors, the more likely they are to invest early on. It’s very difficult to provide a good estimate, since in principle, fundraising can be completed in a couple of days. However, not to be overly optimistic we would recommend you plan at least one month. Fundraising a larger amount will of course also take longer.;
once your campaign has reached its funding goal and the deadline is passed, money can be disbursed. There is still a two week cancellation period for investments from the past two weeks, but any money that was fundraised before then can be transferred to your account immediately;
So all in all we recommend you plan at least three month for your Crowdinvesting campaign. Of course the sooner we start preparing, the sooner you will get the loan. Best contact us today for a free consultation.
Should I do marketing for my Crowdinvesting campaign?
While the frankly.green marketing team will promote your company across all our channels and contact lists, we generally recommend that you support this effort by reaching out to your own network.
Do I need to produce a video for my Crowdinvesting campaign?
No not necessarily, but we still highly recommend that you do. The first step when raising money from a crowd is about introducing yourself and your company to potential investors. There is no better way to do that than with a picture and a video. It gives people the opportunity to listen directly to you and see your business in action.
Of course we will help you prepare your video! Our experienced marketing team will assist you with the script and storyboard and continuously provide feedback as you progress. Plus we will supply you with our comprehensive guide
to video-making.
Please watch the video below from one of our recent Crowdinvesting campaigns to get an idea of what this can look like:
What if my Crowdinvesting campaign does not get funded? Do I still need to pay any interest or fees?
No! We only charge a success fee, which becomes due when your money gets transferred. If for some reason your fundraising should not be successful (which is not very likely, but of course still a possibility), then you will not pay anything and there are no other liabilities for you or your company.
Does frankly.green also offer equity finance?
No, unfortunately we currently can not offer equity finance. All finance on frankly.green is structured as subordinated loans. Make sure you sign up for our mailing list, and we will let you know as soon as we start offering equity finance.
My business is in a country that is not on your list. Can I still apply?
Right now we are unfortunately only operating in Egypt, Ghana, Peru and Rwanda. We are constantly scouting new countries and would encourage you to sign up for our mailing list. We use this as an indication of where the highest demand exists and of course we will let you know as soon as we start serving your country.
WHO IS BEHIND frankly.green?
Frankfurt School is one of Europe‘s leading business schools. Its International Advisory Services is committed to improving financial markets and increasing access to financial services.
GLS Bank is Germany‘s leading social bank. It focuses on financing sustainable projects and companies in sectors such as ecological agriculture, renewable energy, sustainable housing, education, health and culture.
FS Impact Finance, an independent group company of Frankfurt School, is a specialised asset and fund manager. Its focus is on developing countries and emerging markets with a strong foothold in micro and SME finance.
The FS-UNEP Centre encourages and assists the finance community to scale-up current investments, or to take first steps into new markets. It aims at bringing together demand and supply of sustainable financing by promoting smart structures and mechanisms.
Das Projekt ist Teil der Internationalen Klimaschutzinitiative (IKI). Das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und nukleare Sicherheit (BMU) fördert die Initiative aufgrund eines Beschlusses des Deutschen Bundestags.
