Enerwhere, a renewable energy startup based in UAE has managed to raise a corporate loan of AED1 million from Beehive, a regional peer-to-peer lending platform.
When asked about why they chose crowdfunding, Enerwhere’s CEO Daniel Zywietz said there are lots of advantages for the company in terms of accessibility and speed. “The commercial-scale temporary power business is, by its very nature, much more fluid, and requires very quick turnaround times (sometimes less than a week). Contracts are also much smaller (typically less than US$1 million), so keeping overhead costs and fees as low as possible is critical,” says Zywietz. “The traditional banks simply weren’t able to handle our business within their standard processes, and we weren’t big enough yet to get special treatment,” he added.
Enerwhere is planning to raise “a few million dollars in equity in the coming few months,” to fund their R&D costs and at the same time expand. Zywietz also mentioned that he wouldn’t mind choosing crowdfunding again to invest in his startup.
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