Financing platform Symbid reduces complexity of money flows thanks to Online Payment Platform

• Online Payment Platform selected for focus on platforms, flexibility and compliance with new European crowdfunding regulation
• Multi-split payments and Escrow solution were important requirements in search for new payment service provider
• Online Payment Platform offers flexibility to scale up and expand internationally

Symbid is an online financing platform that connects ambitious entrepreneurs with investors. Through Symbid, entrepreneurs can present their plans to tens of thousands of crowdfunders and professional investors who can in turn support the company. Symbid was looking for a way to make money flows between entrepreneurs and investors less complex while at the same time complying with all regulations, including the new crowdfunding regulation. Symbid chose to work with Online Payment Platform because of its focus on platforms, flexibility and the fact that the company meets the strictest compliance requirements.

Symbid has already helped many successful companies get funding, including camper rental platform Goboony, parking app for boats Blue Water, beer brewery De Leckere and Declaree. “Gathering startup capital is difficult, which is why many young entrepreneurs give up their dream and opt for salaried employment,” says Robbin Hoogstraten, Commercial and Operational Director at Symbid. “We help them by facilitating access to funding while lowering the barrier for investors to participate in startups.”

In order to ensure that the money flows between entrepreneurs and investors run safely and correctly, Symbid has been working with a payment service provider since its foundation in 2011. Hoogstraten: “The solution that was implemented is particularly interesting if you have two-way payments. Because we don’t pay out any investment incomes during the term of the investment - the return is in the increase in value - this is not the case. This made the solution too heavy and because we couldn't downgrade, inflexible. Moreover, it was relatively expensive for what we needed. As a result, we decided to look at other payment service providers.”

Legislation & compliance important points of attention

An important requirement was that the payment service provider can provide multi-split payments so funds can be distributed correctly between the entrepreneur, the investor and Symbid. Another essential point of attention was legislation & compliance. “For our operation, we comply with the MiFID II investment guideline and we must also meet the requirements of the European investment guideline. For this we need to work with an organization that has a license from De Nederlandsche Bank and that continuously monitors and securely manages all money flows. And a provider that keeps up with new developments and legislation,” says Hoogstraten. “This includes the new crowdfunding regulation that will come into effect in November 2022. For this it’s necessary to have an Escrow solution. For example, the investor can transfer the money to the escrow account of the payment service provider and if the entrepreneur meets the conditions, the money can be paid out.”

After a selection process, Hoogstraten concluded Online Payment Platform had the best credentials: “Online Payment Platform meets the strictest compliance requirements and has a strong focus on marketplaces and platforms. As a result, they understand the dynamics of our platform very well. Also they look at the most optimal arrangement of the payment flows, both technically and legally. We also like that Online Payment Platform is a local company, but also has international offices. This is in line with our European ambitions.”

The switch to a new payment service provider went smoothly. “We are very pleased with the integration with a good API and a clear manual. Our platform is based on low-code. Thanks to the API, integrating Online Payment Platform was fairly simple and if there were any questions, the support department quickly provided an answer.”

Easy-to-use option for SEPA wire transfer

Hoogstraten indicates that users of the Symbid platform also benefit from the collaboration with Online Payment Platform: “We can now offer a user-friendly option for investors to make a payment via a SEPA transfer. This is especially nice for participants who transfer large amounts, which they prefer not to do via iDEAL. And because we now only use the one-way payment option, we’re responsible for the KYC and UBO checks for investors ourselves.”

“This could change if we wanted to use a wallet solution,” notes Hoogstraten. “In the long term, this is an option whereby returns and dividends can be paid out via a separate platform account. It's good to know that we have access to these options. We started with a fairly light solution and can scale-up if necessary. This is exactly the flexibility that we were looking for in a payment service provider!”