Crowdfunding Law in Tunisia: How the CMF Framework Works

Tunisia's crowdfunding law has been on the books since August 2020, but the market it was meant to create is only now taking shape. Law No. 2020-37 sets up three separate regimes, equity, lending and donations, each with its own regulator and its own implementing texts. For founders, the equity track run by the Conseil du marché financier (CMF) matters most, and its rules are now complete.

Three kinds of crowdfunding, three regulators

Law No. 2020-37 of 6 August 2020 defines crowdfunding as raising money from the public through a dedicated online platform to finance a profit-making project carried out in Tunisia. It recognises three categories:

• Investment in securities: contributors receive ordinary shares, sukuk or bonds. Platforms need approval from the CMF.
• Loans: platforms need approval from the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) (Article 32).
• Donations and gifts: in 2023 the head of APII said the microfinance supervisor, the Autorité de contrôle de la microfinance (ACM), was finalising the rules for this category.

A platform operator must be a Tunisian société anonyme with its registered office in Tunisia, and it may run only one of the three categories. The same project cannot be listed on two platforms of the same category at once.

The CMF framework for equity crowdfunding

The equity regime rests on three texts: the 2020 law, Decree No. 2022-765 of 19 October 2022, and a CMF regulation dated 11 November 2024, which the regulator announced had been published in the Official Journal. Together they set the following rules.

For platforms

• Minimum share capital of TND 100,000, fully paid up at incorporation.
• A business plan, vetted shareholders and managers, adequate staff and IT security, project-evaluation procedures, AML/CFT controls and an insurance policy.
• An authorisation from the national personal data protection authority (see our guide to data protection rules for fintechs).
• The chief executive must live in Tunisia and have at least three years of relevant experience.
• The CMF has up to three months to decide on a complete application, and any refusal must give reasons.

Stockbrokers, portfolio managers and venture capital firms that manage third-party money do not need a separate approval: they file a prior declaration with the CMF and follow the same operating rules.

For companies raising money

• A project can raise at most TND 1 million on a platform.
• Each contributor can put in at most TND 10,000 per project.
• The company cannot be listed on the Tunis Stock Exchange or have already made a public offer approved by the CMF.
• Instead of a full prospectus, it publishes a short information note on the platform, using a CMF template, covering the project, financials, securities, risks and fees.
• Canvassing is banned: the project can only be promoted through the platform.

For contributors

Contributors can be individuals or companies, residents or non-residents. They must register and acknowledge the risks, including the loss of all capital, illiquidity and default on bonds. Money must arrive by electronic transfer or another BCT-authorised payment method and sits in a ring-fenced account at a bank or La Poste Tunisienne. If the funding target is not reached, contributors are refunded.

Lending and donations: slower to move

The lending track got its operating detail later. In November 2023 the BCT issued Circular No. 2023-06, listing the documents required to apply for a loan crowdfunding approval, under conditions set by Decree No. 2022-766. We did not find a public report of an approved lending platform as of October 2026.

Donation-based crowdfunding has produced the first visible licence. According to an interview published by La Presse in June 2026, CnBees obtained ACM approval in December 2025, after filing in May 2024, and describes itself as Tunisia's first approved crowdfunding platform. It is donation-only and was targeting its first funded projects for the third quarter of 2026.

Why the market took so long

The rules arrived in stages: law in 2020, decrees in October 2022, the BCT circular in 2023, the CMF regulation in late 2024. In February 2023, a CMF spokesperson told a business seminar that many people had asked about launching a platform, but no formal approval request had been filed at that point.

The structure itself also limits the business case. A one-category licence, a TND 100,000 capital floor, a ban on canvassing and a TND 1 million ceiling per project make equity platforms a niche, low-ticket business. For a fintech, running a platform means compliance, escrow and investor-protection costs on top of the technology.

What it means for founders

For a startup looking at ways to raise money, equity crowdfunding is best seen as a complement to angels and VC, not a substitute:

• Ticket size: TND 1 million is useful for a seed or pre-seed round, but not for growth rounds.
• Cap table: with TND 10,000 per person, a full round means many small shareholders. Plan governance and shareholder agreements early.
• Instruments: the sukuk option may appeal to sharia-sensitive savers (see Islamic fintech in Tunisia).
• Diaspora: non-resident contributors are allowed, which opens a door to Tunisians abroad.

Before building on any platform, check the CMF and BCT lists of approved providers, which both regulators are required to keep and publish.