Green Crowd - Risk and return review
Green Crowd – Pros & Cons
About Green Crowd
What it is
Green Crowd is an Irish equity crowdfunding platform for investments in renewable energy and other sustainable businesses, run by Green Crowd Limited in Carlow. Most offers are shares that qualify for the Irish Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS), which gives Irish taxpayers income tax relief. As of November 2026 it reports more than €12 million raised for its companies from a network of more than 900 investors.
How it works
You register, answer questions on your knowledge of investing and the risks, and pledge an amount to the company you choose. You then have four days to cancel, after which you get instructions to complete the investment. You must keep EIIS shares for at least four years to keep the tax relief. Recent rounds have been for related solar developers, such as Eden Solar Farm Development, which aimed to raise up to €1 million in a round that closed on 31 May 2026.
Returns
Green Crowd publishes only projections. For the 2026 Eden round, investors are projected to receive €1.05 for every €1 invested before tax relief, about 5% in total over at least four years. Other pages on the site give different figures: about 15% over four years after tax relief, and roughly €55,000 net on €100,000 including 50% EIIS relief. Most of the projected gain is the investor's own tax relief, not the company's profit. No results of earlier rounds are published.
Losses and defaults
No losses, write-downs or exits are published for earlier rounds. Without outcomes, the risk of loss cannot be measured from the platform's own figures.
What secures your money
Nothing secures your money. You buy ordinary shares in small Irish green companies, mostly solar farm developers, and there is no buyback, guarantee or compensation scheme. For the 2026 solar round the company says its projects have no bank debt ahead of investors, which means no lender is paid before shareholders, but shareholders still rank last if the company fails. Green Crowd's checks can include contracts, warranties, insurance, permits and third-party valuations of the assets. Returns of earlier rounds are not published, so there is no record of what investors got back.
Who runs it and its licence
The platform is run by Green Crowd Limited, Enterprise House, O'Brien Road, Carlow. The Central Bank of Ireland regulates it as a European crowdfunding service provider, licence CBI00495357, authorised on 15 December 2023.
Fees
Investors pay no fees: Green Crowd says there are no entry, exit or management fees. The companies raising money pay Green Crowd a percentage of the funds raised, agreed in advance and disclosed in each offer's documents.
Getting your money out
There is no secondary market and no way to redeem shares early. Your money is locked for at least four years, and if you sell before then, the tax relief is clawed back. For the 2026 solar round, investors are to be repaid over time from project cash flows and refinancing, with revenue expected from 2027.
Our view
Return: Very Low: the current round projects €1.05 back for each €1 invested before tax relief, and the site's other projections differ. Risk: High (higher means more risk): the shares are not secured, the money is locked for four years, and no results of earlier rounds are published. Risk-return: Very Low: the projected gain is small before tax relief and not backed by any record.
Regulation
License / Regulation: Green Crowd Limited, trading as Green Crowd, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland as a European crowdfunding service provider, licence CBI00495357, authorised on 15 December 2023.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Yes. The Central Bank of Ireland regulates Green Crowd Limited as a European crowdfunding service provider, licence CBI00495357, since 15 December 2023.
The platform does not name its payment provider on its public pages. After the four-day cooling-off period you receive instructions on how to complete the investment.
No minimum is shown on the public pages; it is set in each offer's documents.
Only projections: the 2026 solar round projects €1.05 back per €1 invested before tax relief. No returns, exits or losses of earlier rounds are published.
Nothing. You own ordinary shares. The 2026 solar projects have no bank debt ahead of investors, but shareholders are paid last if a company fails.
No. There is no way to redeem shares early, and selling within four years means the EIIS tax relief is clawed back.
None. Green Crowd says investors pay no entry, exit or management fees; the companies pay it a share of the funds raised.
EIIS gives Irish resident qualifying taxpayers income tax relief on qualifying shares, which they claim in their own tax return. The shares must be held for at least four years.
Your shares are in the companies, not in Green Crowd, so they remain yours. No compensation scheme covers losses if a company fails.
