ESMA Crowdfunding Market Data 2024

What the Latest ESMA Data Tells Us About a Maturing Market

The latest ECSPR market data published by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in late December 2025, covering the calendar year 2024, provides the most comprehensive snapshot to date of the professional EU crowdfunding market under the European Crowdfunding Service Providers Regulation (ECSPR). The report marks a clear step forward in market transparency, as ESMA managed to capture data from all national competent authorities and  comparability with hopefully future years as there is not a full set of data for the whole of the EU. The report is also highlighting structural imbalances that continue to shape the sector.

A €4 Billion Market with Expanding Coverage

According to ESMA, EU crowdfunding service providers authorised under ECSPR raised over €4 billion in 2024, based on reporting from 181 active platforms across 21 EU/EEA Member States that have licensed platforms in operation. This represents a substantial increase compared to earlier EU-level reporting for 2023, where however not all active markets were reported, and shows both improved supervisory data collection and broader regulatory adoption.

Importantly, this growth might not solely reflect market expansion. It also signals that ECSPR is increasingly functioning as intended: creating a single regulatory perimeter that allows supervisors to aggregate and compare national markets for the first time.

Loan-Based Crowdfunding Remains the Backbone

The data confirms a persistent structural pattern in European crowdfunding:

• Loan-based crowdfunding: 58% of total volumes
• Debt securities: 23%
• Equity crowdfunding: 12%
• Other instruments: marginal with around 7%

Loan-based models continue to dominate due to their relative simplicity, predictable cash flows, and compatibility with retail investor expectations. However, the presence of equity and bond-like instruments demonstrates that crowdfunding is not a niche product but serving diverse issuer needs.

From a market development perspective, this mix strengthens crowdfunding’s role as a complement to traditional bank and early stage venture finance.

Retail Investors at the Core

Retail investors account for approximately 88% of all participants in the EU crowdfunding market. This underscores two fundamental realities:

1. Crowdfunding remains an accessible capital market entry point for European citizens prior even to the potential impact of the Savings and Investment Union and Retail Investment Strategy.
2. Investor protection, risk disclosure, and financial literacy remain systemic priorities within regulated markets.

The data confirms that ECSPR has not reduced retail participation, as some market participants suggested, but instead has formalised it within a regulated framework.

Geographic Concentration Persists

Despite EU-wide harmonisation, market activity remains highly concentrated. Five countries account for more than 80% of total volumes:

Crowdfunding Investment by Country – 2024 (Share of Total)

This concentration reflects historical market development, national investor cultures, and the maturity of domestic platforms prior to ECSPR. While the regulation enables cross-border activity, scale remains uneven, and many Member States still operate with limited platform density and deal flow. The avid reader will know that Germany is not missing by chance from this list, but by design of the local market actors and their sector association. But more on this a different time.

Lack of Scale continuous

The ESMA data does not provide deeper insights on platform level, but the data allows  to make some assumptions. There seems still a clear lack of scale in the market as larger investment values by country correspondent with the number of platforms active. Only based on the data provided by ESMA we already find that the average investment per platform, even though not small in it self, remains somewhat on the small end.

If we divide the total investment raised per country in 2024 for France, Spain and Italy, i.e. where data was published by ESMA, by the number of platforms to get a per-platform average, we get a useful market efficiency metric to understand scale of operators:

Lack of scale does not reflect on the professionalism of the platform as such. Fee structures vary across platforms, we published research on this already two years ago, but if we assume an average of 10% of transaction value in fees, a narrow profit margin for growth and regulatory compliance remains. Market consolidation will likely help leaders to scale going forward. Retail invertors might be well advised to look at platform risk, even though bankruptcies and merges in 2025 did not seem to affect investors via ECSPR licensed platforms negatively, maybe a result of the stringent contingency requirements in the law.

Sectoral Focus: Real Economy Financing

ESMA data shows crowdfunding capital flowing primarily into:

• Construction and real estate-related projects
• Professional, scientific, and technical services
• SME business activities usually with tangible assets or predictable revenues

This confirms crowdfunding’s role as a real-economy financing tool, particularly for sectors that often face constraints in traditional credit or venture markets, be it because they do not correspondent the banks risk profile or do not follow short term trends coveting exorbitant risks of failure as seen in the venture capital industry.

First steps to Maturity

The 2024 ESMA data confirms that EU crowdfunding has entered a phase of regulated maturity. Volumes are rising, reporting is improving, and the market is increasingly diversified. At the same time, geographic concentration and lack of scale suggest where future development efforts could focus. Crowdfunding in Europe is no longer experimental, it is a structural component of Europe’s alternative finance landscape.

You can access the full report: ESMA Market Report – Crowdfunding in the EU 2025