The Swiss crowdfunding market grew by 14% in 2025, driven by real estate developers turning to online platforms as new banking regulations tighten traditional credit.

Total market volume reached 629 million Swiss francs, marking a return to growth after three consecutive years of decline.

The market previously peaked at 792 million francs in 2021. Real estate crowdlending alone surged 38% to 275 million francs.

This shift coincides with the implementation of the Basel III Final regulations on 1 January 2025. These rules require Swiss banks to hold higher capital reserves for riskier loans.

This applies specifically to real estate development projects.

“This makes corresponding bank financing more expensive and leads to a more cautious lending in the real estate development sector,”

said Professor Dr Andreas Dietrich, study leader at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU).

Dietrich added that platforms are benefiting from this funding gap and positioning themselves as a viable alternative.

The HSLU study projects another 30% growth in this segment for 2026.

Concentration and traditional bank participation

Beyond corporate lending, the crowdsupporting and donation sectors saw their first growth since 2020.

These areas expanded by 30% to 35 million francs across 9,288 projects. Traditional banks are also participating in the market directly.

Raiffeisen Switzerland recently began routing a portion of its sponsorship activities through its Lokalhelden platform.

Members of 21 cooperative banks used the system to vote on sponsorship allocations. They also had the option to contribute additional funds to selected projects.

The broader market remains highly consolidated. More than 80% of the donation and support volume is handled by just three platforms, driven by established network effects and brand trust.

The HSLU Crowdfunding Monitor has tracked these developments annually since 2014 to increase transparency across the sector.

Featured image credit: Edited by Fintech News Switzerland, based on image by leungchopan via Magnific