Lokalhelden.ch raises half a million Swiss francs for SMEs
St.Gallen – Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Raiffeisen Group has opened up its platform to crowdfunding for companies as well. Since mid-March, lokalhelden.ch has already raised 500,000 Swiss francs for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Raiffeisen is seeking to provide SMEs with “fast, uncomplicated support”, the banking group writes in a press release. For the past three years, Raiffeisen has offered a project crowdfunding platform free of charge in the form of lokalhelden.ch. This platform was subsequently “also opened up to Swiss companies”, albeit this was just a temporary solution “on account of the exceptional situation”.
SMEs interested in participating are able to use lokalhelden.ch “in order to sell vouchers and collect donations”, the press release explains. It also states that a total of 164 SMEs have received support across Switzerland since the platform was opened up in the middle of March. The financial donations from more than 32,000 individuals come to a value in excess of half a million Swiss francs.
The greatest level of interest in this service has come from companies operating in the hospitality sector, Raiffeisen explains further in the press release. Overall, the range of companies extends from cultural event organizers to associations. The banking group also mentions that, in some cases, the donations collected via the platform have been additionally topped up local Raiffeisen banks. This has seen individual projects secure financial backing to the tune of “up to 40,000 Swiss francs in liquidity”.