Joint press release of KfW and CrowdDesk - KfW and Frankfurt-based fintech CrowdDesk launch pilot partnership for municipal crowdlending in Germany

Frankfurt am Main (ots) -

- KfW supports platform as conceptual sponsor
- Alternative form of municipal financing diversifies creditor
structure und allows for citizen participation
- Partnership begins 11th July 2018 at www.leihdeinerstadtgeld.de

As a conceptual sponsor, KfW Group supports new options for
financing municipal projects: the crowdlending platform
LeihDeinerStadtGeld operated by CrowdDesk GmbH brings municipalities
and citizens/companies together for the purpose of financing
municipal infrastructure projects. The idea is based on the concept
of gathering financial resources from many different supporters in
order to finance projects. With crowdlending, the transfer occurs in
the form of credit.

On 11th July 2018, the partnership will commence on the website of
LeihDeinerStadtGeld (www.leihdeinerstadtgeld.de). There,
municipalities can present their financing plans within the context
of project campaigns. Along with an extensive profile of the project
to be financed, credit conditions and background information are
published, including periodic news updates. Citizens and companies
can make their investments in project financing within a secure area
of the platform.

During a two-year pilot phase, KfW aims to employ its network in
the search for pilot communities in need of support for their plans
to finance municipal infrastructure projects (such as building a
child daycare facility) using the LeihDeinerStadtGeld platform. The
goal of the pilot partnership is to make crowdlending for
municipalities in Germany more widely known, and to gather experience
with this alternative form of municipal financing.

Dr Ingrid Hengster, member of the KfW Executive Board and
responsible for, among other things, the promotional bank's municipal
financing, announced that, "From the perspective of KfW, crowdlending
for municipalities can be a practical, supplementary instrument for
cities and communities for the purpose of financing public
infrastructure projects. It diversifies the creditor structure while
establishing a new form of citizen participation. The citizens
receive the opportunity of supporting a meaningful local project and
an alternative financial investment with fixed interest. Together
with CrowdDesk GmbH and the municipalities and citizens that have
expressed interest, we would like to conduct a pilot partnership with
this innovative financing instrument over a period of two years."

"In recent years, crowdfunding options have developed into an
important source of funds for small and medium-sized businesses. The
cooperation between CrowdDesk and KfW has been designed to make
crowdlending another standard component of every treasurer's
financing scenario," explained Johannes Laub, co-founder and Managing
Director of CrowdDesk.

About LeihDeinerStadtGeld

The social credit platform LeihDeinerStadtGeld.de was developed in
2011 by the company LeihDeinerStadtGeld GmbH as the world's first
crowdlending platform for municipalities. The company was renamed
CrowdDesk GmbH in 2015 and is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main,
Germany.

LeihDeinerStadtGeld is currently a platform brand of CrowdDesk
GmbH. As a provider of technical financial services and in its role
as an investment broker, CrowdDesk GmbH is focused on the
implementation of citizen-oriented project financing and is a
specialist in the consulting, marketing, implementation and
administration of crowdfunding solutions.

Originaltext: KfW
digital press kits: http://www.presseportal.de/nr/41193
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Pressekontakt:
KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM), Sonja Höpfner
Tel. [phone], Fax: [phone],
E-Mail: [e-mail], Internet: www.kfw.de

Press contact CrowdDesk:
Doan Tran
Tel. [phone]
E-Mail: [e-mail]