launch

Fundedbyme Launches P2P Loans To Swedish SMEs today

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fundedbyme-logoSwedish p2p equity platform Fundedbyme expands the product portfolio offered to p2p lending today. Typically loans are between 25 and 25,000 EUR. They pay yearly interest, a percentage of the profit and a possible exit bonus. Anyone can lend money to a p2p lending campaign on Fundedbyme. The minimum bid size is 50 EUR per loan. Daniel Dabocy, CEO of Fundedbyme on the reasoning of entering p2p lending: ‘The idea behind our business is to link investors with entrepreneurs in the most efficient way. That is why we talk with both parties very much. When we started to get regular feedback that they would be interested in something between equity-based and reward-based crowdfunding we thought about p2p business lending. And it turned out this is what they need. Now we are launching the product and I am pretty sure results will confirm that we took the right decision.’ (Source).

Fundedbyme says they have (for their equity offer) signed up 47,000 investors, so they are confident they will fund the new loan offers.

I just checked. Right now there are 4 loan-based offers open for funding on the site.

Fundedbyme loan offers

Every company needs to have a turnover of at least 15,000 EUR in early turnover, and have been registered for at least 1.5 years. In addition to this, the information from credit bureaus UC and Bisnode both have to give the company a favourable risk rating. Loans over 40,000 EUR have a personal guarantee. Continue reading →

Mintos – P2P Loans Secured by Residential Real Estate

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In Latvia p2p lending service Mintos has publicly launched. All loans are secured against residential real estate owned by the Latvian borrowers. CEO Mārtiņš Å ulte told P2P-Banking.com: ‘We strongly believe that secured loans in our region and beyond offer much better risk/return matrix for investors. … We have raised 1 million Euro from a local venture capital fund. That has allowed to put together a great team and build the product. Our immediate future plans are to expand to other geographies on the borrowing side as well as test other types of secured loans. On the investing side we are already open to all European Union countries and Norway and Switzerland. We are constantly improving our product and putting daily updates as we go by taking into account investor suggestions and ideas so that we can deliver great user experience.’.

Actually Mintos started accepting borrowers and making loans in September already. Mintos prefinanced all loans and now the investors can invest into these prefunded loans. Due to regulation reasons, Mintos will continue to make all loans, before investors bid on them. CEO Mārtiņš Å ulte added: ‘… we [will keep] 5% of each loan on our books to align our interests with those of investors.’.


Chart: Cumulative loan originations by Mintos

As said all loans are secured by real estate and all contracts with borrowers are signed before a notary, which eliminates the risk of identity fraud. Typcial interest rates range from 12% to 19% with loan amounts between 1,000 and 100,000 Euro (average now is about 8,000 Euro).Loan terms are from 3 months to 120 months.

Investing at Mintos – my test step by step

The minimum invest is 10 EUR per loan. Mintos charges investors a 2% annual loan servicing fee based on the outstanding principal.

Naturally I wanted to test the service myself before writing this initial review. It took only 2 minutes to register. I then transfered a small amount via SEPA transfer which – as SEPA is pretty fast – was credited 2 days later to my Mintos account.

There are currently 62 loan listings open for bidding. There are filters allowing investors to narrow the list they want to look at and the list can be sorted by clicking on the column headings. Bids can be made directly from the overview table or the investor clicks through to the loan details view. Continue reading →

P2P Lending Service Lendico Launches in Dutch Market

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Lendico entered its 6th national market and launched Lendico.nl  in the Netherlands today. Lendico CEO Dominik Steinkühler commented: ‘Especially in countries with a well developed banking system Lendico is successful. The Lendico users include those who are dissatisfied with banks and do not understand why they should pay for bankers’ bonuses, glass towers, business class flights and more benefits to bankers. Our target audience is looking for alternatives, that offer them better returns or cheaper loans.’

(Source press release; own translation from German)

P2P Lending Service Investly Launched Today

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P2P lending service Investly launched today offering business loans to companies financed by both private and institutional investors. All investment opportunities offered have undergone a thorough pre-screening process including business plan validation, financial analysis as well as credit evaluation.

Once the requested loan amount is filled Investly uses an reverse auction with investors underbidding each other and lowering the interest rate for the business until the auction ends.

The first investment opportunity Investly has live is the chance to lend to Sepapaja OÃœ, a blacksmith who is planning to use the investment to scale up up their business by purchasing a larger pneumatic hammer, lathe and various other tools. According to Stig Paju, the manager of Sepapaja OÃœ, they decided to use the service because: ‘by using Investly we are able to enhance our production, widen our product portfolio and serve more clients. As a positive by-product, our investors will help us to spread the word and gain even more customers.’. The interest rate offered is 15% p.a., but may sink if investor demand is higher than the loan amount. The loan is rated credit grade A by Investly.

Investly is open to international investors from the European Union and Switzerland. I was able to test-drive the platform during the just ended closed alpha. Transfering money in via a SEPA transfer and bidding was fast and easy.

To accelerate the development of the service, Investly will be participating in the BusinessTech accelerator run by Startup Wise Guys – a technology accelerator with a global reach based in Tallinn, Estonia. Investly was chosen from among 150 applicants to part-take in the program alongside 10 other teams from all over the world. Over the next 3 months, they will go through an intensive mentoring, service development and marketing process; ending with investor days both in Tallinn, Estonia and London.

Siim Maivel, CEO of Investly told P2P-Banking.com:  ‘Building on the launch in Estonia, we have ambitious expansion plans with preparations under way to enter new markets, with the UK to follow later in the year.’.

Lendico Launch in South Africa

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Today p2p lending service Lendico is launching in South Africa, the first non-European market for Lendico. The start-up is launching through Africa Internet Holdings (AIH) – an e-commerce development platform supported by Rocket Internet, Millicom International and MTN. AIH co-founder Jeremy Hodara said South Africa matches the 3 criteria Lendico looks for in new markets:

  • The country needs good financial infrastructure, with all the necessary components in place
  • There needs to be an expanding online population, with adequate Internet penetration
  • There needs to be a demand for personal loans

(Sources: Lendico, BusinessTech.co.za)