This is why Tomorrow is launching a new crowdfunding round

The founders of Neobank explain why they are once again focusing on crowdfunding instead of exclusively on venture capitalists and why the crowd should also have a seat on the advisory board in future.

Jakob Berndt and Michael Schweikart, two of the three founders of Neobank Tomorrow, are tapping into their "community", as they call it, for the third time. As in the past, the entrepreneurs hope to successfully raise capital in this way. But it's not just about money, they also see other advantages to this financing channel. Five questions to the Tomorrow founders about crowdfunding and advisory board structures.

Mr. Berndt, Mr. Schweikart, this is the third time you have used crowdfunding to raise money. Are you not interested in normal investors?

Schweikart: That's not the reason. This time, we have once again collected money from professional investors in parallel, a total of five million euros. In addition, we have now raised up to eight million euros from crowd investors. But we are convinced when it comes to crowdfunding. We don't just want to raise money, we also want to strengthen the community around Tomorrow.

With this round, the crowd will become Tomorrow's largest shareholder. What practical consequences does this have?

Schweikart: We want to further strengthen the role of crowd investors. That's why we're creating another seat on our advisory board. A representative will sit there who will have a say in the future. It has always been our aim to involve all of our company's relevant stakeholders. That's why we already have a representative of our employees.

What does that look like in practice? It might not be so easy to get the many small investors on the same page.

Berndt: We will support this selection with appropriate tools. In the end, an advisory board member will be appointed from among the community by vote. We don't really care who that is, we only have a few requirements. But the person would need to have a good command of English. And in the end, of course, the rest of the advisory board has to approve the appointment.

Tomorrow is one of the few larger start-ups that regularly relies on crowdfunding. Why doesn't anyone else do this?

Berndt: Many people have asked us how it works in recent years. And we are happy to provide information. I would say that we have made crowdfunding a bit more acceptable for larger brands. However, it is an instrument that is not suitable for everyone. We first built up the community and then at some point built crowdinvesting on top of that. Not everyone can or wants to go down this route.

Will Tomorrow continue to rely on this model in the future?

Berndt: As I said, we are convinced. In this respect, I don't see what speaks against it. But nothing has been decided yet. We don't do these rounds for their own sake, but depending on our capital requirements. So let's see what it looks like in 2023.