Companisto Review: Startup Investing from €250 – Returns, Fees & Risks

Investing in startups used to be a members-only game: without at least €25,000 and the right contacts, the door stayed shut. Companisto broke that model open in 2012 and lets you in from €250, and for a few years now with real equity instead of the subordinated loans that defined early German crowdinvesting.

For e-commerce founders the platform is interesting from two angles. As an investor, you can diversify profits from your shop into an asset class that barely correlates with stocks and ETFs. And as a founder, you can raise capital on Companisto yourself: the platform’s most famous exit, snack retailer KoRo, was a D2C e-commerce startup.

We took a close look at costs, return statistics, default rates and user feedback to work out who Companisto makes sense for in 2026. One thing up front: this is a platform review, not investment advice.

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What is Companisto?

Companisto is an investment platform from Berlin, founded in 2012 by lawyers David Rhotert and Tamo Zwinge, who still run the company today. The idea: private investors jointly put small and mid-sized amounts into startups and growth companies that would otherwise only be accessible to business angels and venture capital funds.

Fourteen years in, the numbers are substantial: 192,040 registered investors, more than €381 million in investment commitments and 503 funding rounds for over 300 companies (as of August 2026, per the platform’s own homepage). A 2025 study by the European Crowdfunding Centre ECCL ranked Companisto as the highest-volume equity crowdfunding platform in the entire EU, with €49 million of startup equity brokered in a single year.

The market around it has thinned out dramatically, though. Long-time rival Seedmatch and its parent OneCrowd have been in insolvency proceedings since July 2026, and platforms like Innovestment or aescuvest left the market years ago. That makes Companisto effectively the last major German platform for dedicated startup investing. What that means for your risk, we cover below.

Legally, Companisto operates as a financial investment broker under § 34f of the German trade act; securities business runs through Companisto Wertpapier GmbH as a contractually tied agent under the liability umbrella of Effecta GmbH (BaFin register 80164077). Individual offerings come with BaFin-approved prospectuses or securities information sheets. That is not a quality seal for the startups themselves, but it does provide a regulated framework.

Companisto in a video

This independent, roughly 30-minute hands-on review covers the platform, the Angel Club and selling shares. It is in German (like the platform itself, whose primary audience is DACH-based), from late 2024, and the core mechanics are unchanged:

Video: App Experience (independent review, in German, October 2024). No dedicated English Companisto review exists on YouTube as of August 2026.

How investing on Companisto works

The process is deliberately simple: register for free, complete identification once (via IDnow or postal identification), then invest in live funding rounds. Contracts and documents are fully digital, payment runs by bank transfer. There is also a mobile app with a portfolio overview.

What matters is understanding what you actually buy. In its early years Companisto brokered profit-participating subordinated loans. Today you become a genuine shareholder: depending on the offering you receive stocks or GmbH shares, sometimes directly, sometimes pooled through a holding vehicle. You participate in profit distributions and above all in a later exit, with no obligation to inject further capital; your risk is capped at your stake.

There are two entry levels:

	Startup investments	Angel Club
Minimum	€250 per investment	€10,000 per investment
Instrument	Stocks or shares, usually pooled	Real GmbH shares or stocks with full shareholder rights
Extras	Fully digital, open to everyone	15% INVEST state subsidy, representation at notary appointments, ~7,500 members

The INVEST subsidy is a genuine argument for larger tickets: for eligible startups, the German state refunds 15% of your investment amount. The average Angel Club ticket is around €28,000 according to Companisto, but it starts at €10,000.

Deal selection is curated: Companisto states that only about one percent of applications make it onto the platform. Typical rounds currently range from about €370,000 to €1.25 million, with substantially larger raises for stock corporations. The 2026 mix leans heavily towards AI, plus health tech, B2B software, green tech and logistics.

Costs: what does Companisto charge?

The fee model is refreshingly clear and among the fairest in the market:

Item	Cost
Registration, custody, investing	€0 – no fees, no premium
Carry (profit share)	15% of distributed amounts and exit proceeds
Tax handling	German capital gains tax is withheld automatically via payment provider Secupay on exits
For startups	15% success fee on the amount raised + 0.65% p.a. administration fee

In other words: Companisto only earns from you if you earn first. Older reviews still mention a 10% profit share; the current FAQ states 15%. If an exit doubles your stake, 15% of the profit goes to the platform and the rest to you, minus German withholding tax.

Losses from failed investments can only be offset against other capital gains within the limits of German tax law, and since Companisto is not a custodian bank, that runs through your tax return. For larger amounts, this belongs on your tax advisor’s desk.

Returns and risk: the honest numbers

This is where Companisto pleasantly stands out from much of the grey capital market: the platform publishes its portfolio statistics itself, right on the homepage. As of August 2026 they look like this:

Portfolio status (by funding round)	Share
Active	64.2%
Paid out or exited	12.1%
Defaulted	23.7% (by invested volume even 30.5%)

Both sides of that table are real. On the success side stand documented exits: KoRo returned six times the stake to Companisto investors in 2022 when HV Capital and Partech bought in, the platform’s biggest exit to date. Tea retailer 5 Cups was acquired by TEEKANNE (around 45% return), doctor-booking startup Doxter went to Doctena, Foodist to Ströer, and 3D-printer maker BigRep even made it to an IPO in 2024. An older data analysis by German tech outlet Gründerszene put the average return of successful Companisto startups at roughly 56%.

On the other side are failures like camera maker Panono, e-bike startup Freygeist or jetboard company Lampuga, where investors lost all or nearly all of their money. Counting unclear cases, that same analysis considered about a quarter of funded startups failed. Companisto publishes no official average investor return. Keep that in mind before believing any marketing math.

Liquidity: how do you get your money back?

This is the biggest weakness of the asset class, and of Companisto. Equity stakes cannot be terminated. Your money comes back in three ways: through an exit, through profit distributions, or by selling your stake on the platform’s own secondary market.

That secondary market has existed since 2022 and is honestly more of a bulletin board than an exchange: buyers and sellers negotiate prices anonymously in a chat, there are no quoted prices, no guarantee of finding a buyer, and trading is suspended around funding rounds and exits. Investor forums judge it accordingly. Plan on a holding period of five to ten years; anything else is wishful thinking.

Companisto reviews: what users say

On Trustpilot, Companisto scores 4.3 out of 5 from around 1,500 reviews, rated “Excellent”. Users consistently praise the fast, personal support, the smooth digital investment process and the founder video calls before each round. That matches our impression: as a platform, Companisto runs professionally.

Criticism rarely targets the platform itself and almost always the asset class: investors with several defaulted holdings report frustration over total losses and want faster, more candid communication when a portfolio startup gets into trouble. German investor forums also discuss a case where a listed startup was already financially distressed at campaign time. Companisto checks offerings for plausibility, but that is no independent audit of the numbers: the documents come from the startups themselves.

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Companisto alternatives in 2026

The field is smaller than most people realise. The perennial “Seedmatch or Companisto” comparison settled itself in July 2026, when the OneCrowd group behind Seedmatch, Econeers and Mezzany filed for insolvency. Cold comfort for investors there: participation contracts run with the startups themselves and are not part of the platform’s insolvency estate, but administration gets much bumpier.

Platform	Focus	From	Verdict
Companisto	Startup equity (DACH)	€250	Market leader, free for investors, 15% carry on success
Seedmatch / OneCrowd	Startups (subordinated loans)	€250	Insolvent since July 2026, not recommendable
Invesdor	SMEs, green energy, some startups	€250	ECSP-licensed, mostly fixed-interest bonds (~7–9% p.a.) rather than equity
wiwin	Sustainability (wind, solar, green startups)	€100	Impact niche, mostly fixed interest
FunderNation	Startups & tech SMEs	€100	Small player, subordinated loans, publishes no performance record
Crowdcube / Republic Europe	Startups across Europe	~€10–100	Huge selection, but ~2.5% investment fee plus up to 5% carry

If you want startup exposure without single-company bets, look beyond crowdinvesting: venture capital funds for private investors (ELTIF structures from €10,000) diversify professionally across many holdings, and listed private equity companies stay tradable at all times. Both are the liquidity counterpart to betting on one startup. And if crypto is your second risky asset class, our CoinTracking review covers the tax side of it.

Companisto for founders: raising capital for your startup

The second angle for e-commerce founders: Companisto as a funding source. The platform looks for startups and growth companies from the DACH region for rounds between roughly €750,000 and €8 million. Terms are transparent: a 15% success fee on the amount raised plus 0.65% per year in administration, payable only if the funding succeeds.

This is most interesting for D2C brands with proven revenue and a story consumers connect with, because many of the 192,000 Companists double as potential customers and brand ambassadors. KoRo used exactly that effect. The bar is high, though: only about one percent of applications make it, and you need investor-grade financials and a clean accounting setup (our BuchhaltungsButler review covers a German tool for that). For early-stage founders needing four-figure amounts, Companisto is the wrong door.

Who is Companisto for – and who should skip it?

Companisto fits if you already have a solid financial base and want to allocate a small, deliberately risky slice of your wealth to startups. Meaning: emergency fund in place, retirement savings running, and the €250 to €1,000 per investment would not hurt you in a total-loss scenario. In return you get regulated, professional access to an asset class that used to be closed, including a realistic shot at the occasional outlier. From €10,000 per ticket, the Angel Club with its 15% INVEST subsidy makes the platform attractive for larger portfolios too.

Skip it if you may need the money anytime soon, want predictable returns, or are just starting your shop and should be putting every euro into your own business. For a dropshipping beginner, the best return is almost always the investment in your own company. And take the 24% default rate seriously: statistically, about one in four investments fails.

Is Companisto worth it? Our verdict

As a platform, Companisto gets a lot right: free access, real equity, automatic tax withholding, curated deal selection and a transparency about its own default numbers that we have rarely seen anywhere. The fee model, a 15% carry only in the success case, sets the right incentives. After the Seedmatch insolvency, Companisto is also the last remaining German platform of this size, which if anything strengthens its reach and deal flow.

The weaknesses sit less with the platform than with the asset class: high default rates, years of capital lock-up and a secondary market that only half deserves the name. If you know that, cap your risk and spread across several startups, Companisto is the most reputable German gateway to startup investing. Hence: 4.1 out of 5.

Frequently asked questions about Companisto

Is Companisto legit?

Yes. Companisto has operated since 2012, is still run by its founders and brokers securities through Companisto Wertpapier GmbH under the liability umbrella of Effecta GmbH (BaFin register). Offerings come with BaFin-approved prospectuses or information sheets, and the platform scores 4.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Legit does not mean risk-free, though: deals are curated, not guaranteed.

What does Companisto cost?

For investors, Companisto is completely free: no premium, no custody fees. The platform keeps 15% of profits distributed to you (for example after an exit). If you earn nothing, only the startup pays: a 15% fee on the amount raised plus a 0.65% annual administration fee.

How risky is investing on Companisto?

Very. Companisto itself reports that around 24% of funding rounds have defaulted, over 30% by invested volume. Total loss of individual investments is a built-in possibility. Against that stand successes like the KoRo exit at six times the stake. Only invest money you can afford to lose, and spread it across several startups.

Can I sell my Companisto shares?

Only to a limited extent. Stakes cannot be terminated; normally your money returns via an exit or distributions. Since 2022 there is an internal secondary market where you can offer your stake to other Companists, with freely negotiated prices but no quoted rates and no guarantee of a buyer. Plan on holding for five to ten years.

What happens to my investment if Companisto goes bankrupt?

Your stake is a contract with the startup, not with the platform, so it does not fall into a potential Companisto insolvency estate. The Seedmatch/OneCrowd case (insolvent since July 2026) illustrates this: investor contracts survive, but administration and payouts become considerably more cumbersome without a functioning platform. Platform risk remains a residual risk.

Is the Companisto Angel Club worth it?

For larger tickets, yes: from €10,000 per investment you receive real GmbH shares or stocks with full shareholder rights, get represented at notary appointments and can claim Germany’s INVEST subsidy of 15% of the investment amount for eligible startups. Membership itself costs nothing; willingness to invest is the entry condition.

Note: this article is a platform review, not investment or tax advice. Startup investments carry the risk of total loss. All figures as of August 2026; terms may change.