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Germany's real estate crowdfunding sector has seen its first major consolidation of 2025, with the full merger of Zinsbaustein and Wiwin. Both platforms frame the union as a logical evolution of their existing January product cooperation. But behind the upbeat press releases and shared visions of sustainability lies a more revealing subtext: Zinsbaustein, whose fortunes have closely tracked the troubled fortunes of the property cycle, appears to have found in Wiwin both a partner and a lifeline.
The official line, echoed across multiple trade outlets, is simple enough. Zinsbaustein brings its regulatory credentials—notably, its status as Germany's first real estate crowdinvesting platform to secure the European Crowdfunding Service Provider (ECSP) licence in 2023. Wiwin, for its part, contributes its established "impact scoring" system and track record in renewable energy and sustainable start-up finance. Together, they aim to offer a diversified pipeline of citizen-led investments in both real estate and infrastructure, with 220 projects and over €360 million in transactions already under their belts.
But in a candid interview with REFIRE, Zinsbaustein CEO Markus Kreuter revealed a deeper motivation: "Real estate finance was perhaps a product that is not so ideal in the current difficult phase." He continued, "We were a monoculture with real estate as an interest rate component... Energy has a different cycle than real estate." Kreuter's comments point to a defensive repositioning: Zinsbaustein was exposed, and needed to pivot.
What followed was a process of industrial matchmaking. "We looked around to see if we could do it ourselves or if there was someone else in the market we could team up with... and then we found Wiwin," Kreuter said. The resulting structure is technically an asset deal: Wiwin GmbH absorbs selected assets of Zinsbaustein, and Zinsbaustein GmbH will no longer broker new business in the foreseeable future. The headquarters moves to Mainz; Berlin becomes a satellite.
While both Kreuter and Wiwin CEO René Theis now share joint management duties, the mechanics of the transaction point to an integration weighted toward Wiwin. As one trade publication put it, Wiwin GmbH will act as a service provider to Zinsbaustein GmbH, which continues to exist legally but effectively ceases commercial operations. A merger of equals this is not.
Still, there ARE tangible synergies. Zinsbaustein's ECSP licence dovetails with Wiwin's tokenised securities expertise. Kreuter notes that both sides were operating with lean teams of 15–20, and the merger allows them to combine without bloating headcount. "Instead of each of us having 20 to 15 people, we now have 30 people," he explained. "You only need one accountant, one advertising agency, one external tax adviser."
Importantly, Kreuter remains bullish on the broader promise of crowdfunding. Despite acknowledging that many platforms—particularly in real estate—have suffered losses, he insists the model is not broken. "There are names that have fallen by the wayside where we thought they would never die," he admits. "But the technology is still good. The only question is: what for?"
The answer, in his view, lies in the convergence of real estate and energy projects that can be scaled via citizen capital. This merger, he argues, will allow investors to diversify across two uncorrelated asset classes and increase their allocation to crowdfunding. "Maybe we get a bigger slice of the pie... because we have two different products," Kreuter told REFIRE.
Leadership and shareholder continuity
The new joint management team brings complementary experience to the table. Markus Kreuter has been with Zinsbaustein since 2021 and previously held senior roles at several banks and project developers over a 30-year career. His counterpart, René Theis, joined Wiwin in 2022 after serving as Head of Overall Bank Management at PSD Bank West. Together, they are tasked with integrating operations and steering the platform into its next growth phase.
On the shareholder side, continuity appears to be the order of the day. The Dr. Peters Group and the Sontowski & Partner Group remain invested in the Zinsbaustein brand, while Matthias Willenbacher—a long-time advocate for sustainable finance—continues as Wiwin’s anchor shareholder. According to statements from both sides, all shareholders remain on board and are committed to supporting the company’s future development, including plans for enhanced product development, cross-platform investment offerings, and technical integration.
The Zinsbaustein-Wiwin merger is unlikely to be the last in Germany's crowded and increasingly pressurised crowdinvesting space. As real estate cycles shift and investor expectations reset, platform operators will need either scale, specialisation, or new asset-class exposure to survive. In this case, Wiwin gains regulatory heft and real estate access; Zinsbaustein gains relevance and a growth narrative. Investors, for their part, get a broader but as yet untested hybrid platform promising both yield and sustainability.
Other platforms have already been feeling the strain. Hamburg-based Exporo, once the poster child of German real estate crowdfunding, has undergone successive rounds of restructuring and recently pivoted away from classic project development financing. Meanwhile, Bergfürst has scaled back its offering after regulatory scrutiny and investor losses dented its credibility. In that context, the Zinsbaustein-Wiwin deal may be as much about survival as synergy.
Whether the combined entity can deliver both remains to be seen. But the pressure is clearly on: in Kreuter's own words, "We're not as pessimistic as the newspapers say. But things will get better through diffusion. For us, anyway."