Ethex Review

What it is

Ethex is a British not-for-profit platform where people invest in community energy schemes, co-operatives and social enterprises in the UK. It is run by Ethex Investment Club Ltd in Oxford, a company founded in 2010, and has listed offers since 2013. Its home page shows £135 million invested, more than 225 projects funded and more than 43,000 registered accounts (October 2026). Most offers come from community energy groups, such as rooftop solar schemes, and from social lenders and enterprises.

How it works

Organisations raise money through an offer on Ethex, and you invest directly in that organisation, not in Ethex. There are two main kinds of investment. Community shares are shares in a co-operative or community benefit society: they pay interest if the society can afford it and can only be cashed in if its board agrees. Bonds are loans to the organisation for a fixed term, often 5 to 20 years, at a forecast interest rate; some can be held in an Innovative Finance ISA. The minimum amount is set by each offer. There is no automatic investing and no rating of offers.

Returns

Every rate on Ethex is a forecast, not a promise. The highest forecast on a live offer was 8% a year (August 2026), and the platform's brochure says offers target 3% to 8% a year. Most community energy offers forecast 5% to 6%. Some offers qualify for tax relief that adds to the return for UK taxpayers. Ethex publishes no figure for what investors have actually received over its 13 years; the platform said it paid £2.6 million of interest to investors in 2022.

Losses and defaults

Ethex publishes no default rate, no losses, no late payments and no recoveries for any of its more than 225 projects (October 2026). It describes 200+ offers as successful without saying what that means. As it is outside the UK regulator's rules, it does not have to publish such figures. Over 13 years of mostly unsecured community investments, some issuers are likely to have paid late or not at all, but investors cannot see how many.

What secures your money

As a rule, nothing. Community shares work like shares: they are not secured, interest is paid only if the society can afford it, and if it fails you can lose everything. Bonds are mostly unsecured loans; any security is specific to an offer and described only in its documents. There is no buyback, no reserve fund, no guarantee and no insurance, and neither the Financial Services Compensation Scheme nor the Financial Ombudsman Service applies. Ethex arranges offers but does not collect debts or manage problem cases. For you this means your money depends entirely on each organisation staying able to pay.

Who runs it and its licence

Ethex Investment Club Ltd (company number 07432030, England and Wales) is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. It relies on an exemption for not-for-profit bodies that promote UK enterprises and charge only to cover costs, and says so on its risk page. Cash waiting in investors' wallets is held by ShareIn as client money under the Financial Conduct Authority's client-money rules.

Fees

There are no fees to open an account or invest. The organisations raising money pay Ethex a fixed fee plus a percentage of the amount raised; neither figure is published.

Getting your money out

There is no market on Ethex to sell your shares or bonds. Bonds are repaid on the schedule in each offer, often over 5 to 20 years. Community shares have no end date and can be cashed in only if the society's board agrees and it has enough cash.

Our view

Return: Medium — forecasts of up to 8% a year, mostly 5% to 6% on community energy, with no realised return published. Risk: High (higher means more risk) — no default or loss figures after 13 years and £135 million, mostly unsecured investments, no supervision by the Financial Conduct Authority and no compensation scheme. Missing loss data counts against a platform. Risk-return: Low — a moderate forecast return for a high level of risk, though many investors choose Ethex for its social and environmental impact rather than for the return.