Flender launched a year ago. What did you achieve since launch?

1. We have funded c. 1,300,000 EUR deals through our platform and we are proud that our defaults have remained at 0%.
2. We have just finished equity fund raise where we raised successfully 800,000 EUR from world’s biggest VC Enterprise Ireland and private investors.
3. We have strengthened our credit team with head of credit Colin Barry who came from AIB Bank and David McNamara ex director of Merrill Lynch International Bank. David has joined our credit committee and board of directors. This all means that our lenders can be assured that Flender has best in class underwriting practices.
4. Following due diligence, Price Waterhouse Coopers is heading our debt raise from institutional finance providers.

We offer very attractive 10-11.5% interest rate to our lenders. Current default rate is 0% and our world class credit team will ensure great returns to our lenders.

You now want to raise a 50M Euro debt package. What will that be used for?

Funds will allow:

1. Accelerate funding of the deals on our pipeline
2. Loans on our marketplace will get funded quicker
3. Offer bigger variety of credit options to borrowers such as higher ticket loans and property backed peer to peer loans

Can you please give details about the planned launch of property finance loans?

Our target market will be property developers and builders looking for working capital towards last phases of construction. Target loan size is 250,000-750,000 EUR.

How will these loans be secured?

Loans will be secured against 1^st legal charge on the property

What interest rates can investors expect on the property loans?

8-10%

When will we see the first property loan listed on the marketplace?

We are aiming for May 2018

You recently repaid a convertible loan. Why did you decide to repay that loan rather than convert this into equity stakes in Flender?

This was condition of our new equity investor. Investment allowed us to repay our loan participants with very generous 12% return.

Flender holds permission to lend in the UK. How are your plans progressing to offer loans in the UK market?

Our plan is to expand and grow our brand in Ireland. We will review our launch plan for the UK towards end of this year.

What are the main challenges in growing the business right now?

Now that our platform and model have been proven then our goal is to scale up. We would need to grow both the number of retail lenders and involve institutional finance for this.

We welcome your readers to participate in campaigns on our marketplace.

Can you share some demographics on your (retail) investor base?

• Ireland 58.41%
• United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 14.86%
• Germany 13.74%

You have one wish that the regulator fulfils for you. What is your wish?

We would welcome EU wide regulatory framework for p2p platforms.

P2P-Banking.com thanks Kristjan Koik for the interview.