Crowdestor
Crowdestor is a marketplace for direct peer-to-peer lending which allows users to invest directly in loans granted on the platform. The loans are to companies in the areas of transport, real estate and startup projects. All loans have collateral backed and/or covered by the Buyback Fund. The platform launched in 2018 and have funded and facilitated capital to projects based in Latvia, Germany, United Kingdom and Russia.
BASIC INFORMATION
P2P Business Area:
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Founded:
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Founders:
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Country of Origin:
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IPO Status:
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Countries of Operation:
Business lending
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2018
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Gunars Udris & Janis Timma
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Estonia
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Private
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Estonia, Latvia, Germany, UK, Russia
LOAN CHARACTERISTICS
Interest Rates
12% - 24%
Loan Durations
3 - 24 Months
Buyback Guarantee
Minimum Investment
50
€
Loans on Crowdestor
Crowdestor has a simple and informative single page for every project listed on the platform. What you see below is the first thing you will see when browsing through the available projects. Here Crowdestor displays some basic useful information about the loan: Interest rate, duration of the loan as well as the minimum and maximum funding amount.
Below, the page is divided into different section that can vary depending on the project. They will provide you with additional information about the project. Often, you will find four sections containing information about the project: ‘Summary’, ‘Loan’, ‘Collateral’ and one project specific question answered. The summary gives a short description about the project, what the money is going to be used for, why and when. The loan information reveals whether the project is covered with a buyback guarantee, how often the interest payments are paid and when the loan is repaid. Below information about the loan, there is a sample of the interest payments on a 1,000 investment in the project.
The collateral section gives an idea of the project and how you as an investor is protected. Besides the Crowdestor buyback guarantee (which will be explained in the section below), the collateral is usually displayed in the project by the end – but in all projects with a buyback guarantee the collateral agent is the “Buyback Guarantee Fund”. No budget or financials are available to look through, but when the platform has to cover the amount if the borrower defaults, it might be more appropriate to look at the financials of the buyback guarantee.
Buyback Guarantee on Crowdestor
To increase the financial security of the lenders on Crowdestor, they have created the “Buyback Guarantee Fund” with an initial investment of 50,000 euro. To keep up with the increasing number of projects to be covered with the guarantee, the platform is devoting a 1-2 % commission of the projects funded to the fund. The current value of the fund at any given time will be published on the website.
Direct Investment Structure
There are two different types of investment structures in P2P investing:
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The direct structure means you are buying a claim against the borrower directly.
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The indirect structure means you obtain exposure to a loan by investing in a loan issued by a platform company to the loan originator.
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Crowdestor is a traditional lending-based crowdfunding platform and every loan is structured in a direct investment structure. This makes it easier to better evaluate the risks involved since you know that you are lending directly to the company/owner of the property.
PLATFORM FEATURES
Auto Invest
Not available yet
Secondary Market
Not available yet
Manual Investing
Crowdestor is a new platform and the number of loans is not that impressive, but the website is simple and easy to use. Below is displayed how browsing the investments manually looks like. Scrolling down the page you will be able to see the name of the projects, interest rate, duration of the loan, name of the project and the location. The interest rate ranges between 12% and 24% which is considered very high, but it is not without risk. The funding process is set with a minimum target for the lowest funded amount acceptable for the company to take up the loan and a maximum target of the largest amount the company is interested in borrowing.
Automatic investing & Secondary Market
Crowdestor does not yet offer automatic investing but is said to be working on renewing their platform to make both auto-invest and a secondary market available in the future, which will also allow lenders to exit the investments early.
NICE TO KNOW FOR INVESTORS
Registration Process
Registering at Crowdestor is simple and easy to do. Whether you’re an individual investor or investing as a company, creating an account requires just your name, email and a password. After creating the account, you will receive an email with instructions on how to register. The platform complies with KYC (Know Your Customer) and you therefore need to provide an identification document and additional information to be able to withdraw money from the platform. Thus, you can create an account and invest, but you will have to complete the KYC before unlocking withdrawing
Deposit & Withdrawal Process
Depositing funds to your investor account is done in three steps:
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Transferring money into your Mintos account via Bank transfer or TransferWise.
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Your funds will be available for investment within the day of confirmed arrival (usually 1-3 banking days).
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After the funds are received and added to the account, you will receive an e-mail confirmation.
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Withdrawing funds is very simple if you are already KYC validated. You just click the “withdraw funds”, enter the desired amount and wait the 1 to 3 business days before the requested amount will land in your account. There is no minimum withdrawal restrictions and no further additional fees or commission for withdrawing the funds – except maybe from your own bank. Remember, depending on their fee structure, your own bank might charge fees for handling the transaction or exchanging currency.
Reporting
The portfolio overview is as with most new platforms not that developed. Crowdestor does provide a cashflow analysis and a useful statistics on your invested projects. The portfolio overview could be improved, and it probably will as more and more projects are launched on the platform.
Crowdestor Tax
Unfortunately, we do not provide tax related consultations and we recommend that you apply to your tax adviser regarding this issue.
Please let us know if you have any questions by writing to info@crowdestor.com
Who can invest?
You must be at least 18 years old and You must have a bank account in one of the European Union or EEA banks.
1% CASHBACK BONUS
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Terms & Conditions: New investors will get a 1 % cashback of their daily balance for the first 90 days after registration.
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Get the Crowdestor bonus: click on the Sign Up button below and start investing.
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Expiration Date: None.
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Who Can Invest? To invest on Crowdestor you must be at least 18 years old and You must have a bank account in one of the European Union or EEA banks.
Disclaimer
Please note that this overview may contain affiliate links. It means that a commission is earned if you decide to invest after using the link – of course without additional costs to you. The information on this site does not constitute investment advice and is solely to give you a simple and easy overview of the platform. Always conduct your due diligence and consult your financial advisor before making any investment decisions.