Stamford crowd funding site expands European reach

Officials behind I-Bankers Direct, an investor crowd funding platform, recently announced they would be expanding their reach overseas to attract more European investors.

The Stamford-based company recently announced its Lugano, Switzerland office would be getting a new managing director as a way to attract more investors abroad. The company’s platform allows individual investors to evaluate and invest in business opportunities from any Internet-capable device.

According to I-Bankers Direct, crowd funding levels in Europe increased by 65 percent last year, with a total of $945 million invested in growing companies.

“Based on my experience as a fund manager, it”™s clear to me that the economic uncertainty in Europe has created a strong demand among European investors for new sources of investment opportunities,” said Silvia Panigone, the newly named director of the Switzerland office. “I expect a large pool of high-net-worth European investors to be eager to consider U.S. and E.U. offerings made available on (our) platform.”