On 25 September 2023, the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA) granted CONDA Capital GmbH, a member of the CONDA Group, a license under the European Crowdfunding Service Provider Regulation (ECSP Regulation). Among other things, this gives CONDA Capital authorization to commercially place transferable securities and instruments approved for crowdfunding purposes without a firm underwriting obligation. CONDA Capital is one of the first Austrian companies to receive such a license.
The business model pursued by CONDA Capital is a further development of the CONDA business model already in operation today. CONDA is a pioneer in the field of crowdfunding for startups and SMEs. Since its founding in 2013, more than 219 projects have been successfully financed. CONDA counts more than 40,000 investors and gives them the opportunity to invest in companies in Austria and Germany across national borders.
While national regulations—in Austria, for example, the Alternative Financing Act (AltFG)—do not allow cross-border crowdfunding, authorization under the ECSP Regulation enables precisely this. In addition, issuers can offer not only investments (such as subordinated loans) but also fully-fledged securities (such as bonds) via European Crowdfunding Service Providers. This was previously reserved for investment firms under MiFID II.
The authorization was granted within the framework of the regulatory sandbox regime of the FMA. The sandbox regime offers the opportunity to test and develop an innovative business model under the supervision of the FMA. More information can be found here or here (German only).
STADLER VÖLKEL (SV.LAW) provided legal advice to CONDA in connection with both the admission to the Regulatory Sandbox and the approval procedure under the ECSP Regulation. SV.LAW is a Vienna-based commercial law firm specializing in blockchain, FinTech, finance and capital markets law, among other areas. The firm offers its comprehensive legal advice to both startups and established players on finance, capital markets, and regulatory issues.
The advisory team consisted of Dr. Oliver Völkel, LL.M. (Columbia), founding partner focusing on banking, finance, capital markets and cryptoasset law, and Mag. Philipp Ley, associate at the firm.
