Malta came late to the crowdfunding scene. For years, the only local option was ZAAR, launched in 2016 for donation and reward-based projects. It helped raise about €700,000 across 130 campaigns, but offered no way for investors to share in financial returns. Equity and debt crowdfunding were effectively blocked by heavy regulation: platforms needed a full MiFID licence, had to meet steep capital requirements, and faced strict caps and investor limits.
Everything changed with the EU’s Crowdfunding Regulation (ECSP 2020/1503), which came into force in 2021. It created a single EU market for crowdfunding, allowing national regulators to license platforms with the right to operate across all member states.
TokePortal: Malta’s First Equity Crowdfunding Platform
It was in this space that TokePortal seized the moment. First incorporated in Budapest, the name came from Hungarian word tőke, meaning “capital”. In 2025, the team gained MFSA approval and became Malta’s first fully licensed equity crowdfunding provider. By mid-year, it had already hosted the island’s first equity crowdfunding pitch event, marking the start of a new era of alternative finance.
As Nora Szeles, TokePortal’s co-founder, explains, innovation is less about technology than about people:
Crowdfunding it’is not just raising capital – it strengthens’s community loyalty. It helps founders monetize their network, and their customers.
In other words, the platform doesn’t just mobilise financial capital but also social capital – trust, networks, and the sense of belonging that encourages hundreds of small investors to act together.
What excites us here is the mix of local entrepreneurs and cross-border investors. The regulation finally makes it possible to bring them together.
Nora explained
Old-School Crowdfunding: From Ireland to New York
Nora also reminded us, crowdfunding itself is not a new idea. “People have always found ways to pool small sums for something bigger,” she explained. “Crowdfunding has always existed – locally – but digitalisation and regulation took it to a global level”. Long before digital platforms, communities used collective finance to make ambitious projects possible.
- Ireland’s Loan Funds (18th–19th century): In the 1720s, Jonathan Swift (the satirist behind Gulliver’s Travels) started charitable “loan funds” that offered tiny loans, often just £3 to £10 – to the industrious poor. These funds grew into a nationwide micro-credit network. By the 1840s, nearly 300 loan funds were active, supporting as much as one in five Irish households.
- Statue of Liberty’s Pedestal (1885): When funds for the base of the statue ran out, newspaper owner Joseph Pulitzer launched a public appeal. More than 125,000 ordinary New Yorkers donated, Pulitzer promised that donors of $1 would receive a 6-inch replica of Lady Liberty, while those giving $5 or more received a 12-inch version—early reward-based crowdfunding in action.
What’s changed today is the speed, regulation, and digital reach.
What Does TokePortal Offer?
TokePortal connects startups, SMEs and even real estate projects with investors. Being ECSP-licensed means they can facilitate public fundraising campaigns across EU member states for up to €5 million per company per year. As of current, Ffunding can take the form of equity, or convertible notes, with plans to offer debt-based securities (loans or bonds), or convertible notes, giving flexibility in how a project is structured. Investors on the platform receive tradeable securities (shares, bonds, etc.), and TokePortal plans to enable a secondary market for liquidity. Founders can choose between creating an SPV or direct.
Prior to obtaining the EU licence, the TokePortal team helped raise about €4 million through pilot campaigns and built a community of roughly 10,000 registered investors. They have run dozens of campaigns and actively grown a following through newsletters, social media and in-person events. In Malta, they quickly plugged into the startup ecosystem, partnering with entities such as Malta Enterprise, became members of FinanceMalta, PEVCA, DiHUB, local accelerators, and hosting regular sessions like Pitch&Go and CrowdWednesDay.
The first Maltese pitch event in May 2025 saw nine startups present to investors, signalling strong local interest in crowdfunding.
What Does It Cost to Run a Campaign on TokePortal?
Launching a campaign on TokePortal involves both fixed and success-based costs.
- Upfront fees: Every campaign pays a €7501500 campaign setup fee including scoring and design. scoring fee. Typical fixed costs, including legal setup (such as forming an SPV), marketing, and preparation, range between €1,200 and €3,000. These are paid by the campaign owner.
- Success fee: Once the campaign closes, TokePortal charges a 6.99% fee on funds raised up to the minimum target, plus 0.5% on any amount above that target. This is paid from the capital raised and due within 15 days of closing.
- Additional support: TokePortal provides up to 10 20 hours of pro bono input for dueuntil, and after the campaign launch. For any additional hour it charges a favourable hourly rate (€50) if further assistance is needed. During the campaign, unlimited assistance is provided based on a weekly call, investors webinars, etc.
Overall, when you add fixed and success-based fees, the total cost of raising capital is roughly a one time 9% – a one-time charge, unlike institutional investors who often take annual returns or ongoing equity stakes. scoring process, success follows. Today, a Maltese company can typically raise even €0.5–1 million within about 3–4 months.
What makes a crowdfunding campaign successful – even for a first-time entrepreneur whose name investors haven’t yet heard of?
- A strong founder’s vision and determination, putting in a few hours of focused work each week during the campaign.
- A clearly communicated problem, solution, business model, and investor value proposition. Most importantly, Nora emphasizes, founders shall remain focused and proactive in communicating the campaign, as that is an ask to be articulated and represented consequently. As research says, it takes a minimum of 7 interaction between a follower and the campaign owner until the follower becomes an investor.
- Active social media presence and visibility, with clear and consistent campaign messaging. Agile and collaborative project management.
And apart from the legal work, nothing should be done just for the sake of the campaign: every piece of communication and interaction helps build the brand, nothing goes to waste.
If the collaboration works well, the parties understand each other, and the campaign passes the
The takeaway: while founders must invest time (typically 3–6 weeks of preparation) and some upfront resources, crowdfunding via TokePortal remains a founder-friendly way to raise capital, keeping more long-term value in the hands of entrepreneurs.
CrashPad – Malta’s First World Class Climbing and Bouldering Centre to open in November!
In mid-2025, CrashPad, that aims to become one of the best European climbing centre for world class competitions that offers wellness and fitness for the public became the first company to launch a live equity crowdfunding campaign with TokePortal in Malta to raise at least EUR 300k to finance its brand building. As it is a real estate-based project, it seems ideal to start as an investor, who can invest as little as EUR 100…
A few highlights:
- Crowdfunding launch partner: CrashPad chose TokePortal as its crowdfunding partner—not just because of its ECSP licence, but because TokePortal offered a full-stack service: investor onboarding, marketing support, and community-building tools.
- “Early investor perks”: The campaign featured “early investor perks” (discounts, special memberships, or bonuses for investors who committed early)—helping convert casual interest into solid commitments quickly. One of these is the lifetime pass to
- Wide appeal: By using TokePortal’s platform and integrating with its Pitch&Go events, CrashPad tapped both local and EU-wide investors, giving smaller-ticket investors (from €100 upwards) a chance to participate in a high-ambition Malta fitness venue.
- Symbolic milestone: CrashPad’s campaign symbolised the arrival of real estate/equity crowdfunding in Malta: not just small startups, but tangible infrastructure projects can now raise capital from the crowd under regulated conditions.
CrashPad’s campaign isn’t just a proof of concept for TokePortal in Malta, it’s a blueprint of how a “real project” (with real estate, community, and recurring membership revenue) can be financed by a crowd, marketed via social channels, and anchored in local ambition with EU investor reach.
The Bigger Picture
Overall, crowdfunding is a way to both raise money and gain a crowd of supporters; you get the funding and a marketing boost. Most importantly, as Nora stated:
Crowdfunding is about building loyalty and trust.
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