EstateGuru bucks pandemic with 65pc rise in revenues

EstateGuru reported a 65 per cent year-on-year increase in first-half revenues, despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

The European peer-to-peer property lending platform also posted a 29 per cent increase in loan volume growth over the same period.

“While our loan amounts more than doubled during the first quarter this year, due to the Covid-crisis we witnessed a decline of 19 per cent in loan amounts during the second quarter,” said co-founder and chief executive Marek Pärtel.

“Despite this temporary setback, we reacted quickly and saw an increase of 33 per cent in loan amounts during June. So, all in all, loan volume growth compared to the first half of 2019 reached 29 per cent and our revenues increased by 65 per cent compared to the first half of 2019. We remain focused on cost-efficient growth and the stable quality of our credit portfolio.”

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The platform’s investors earned €4.3m (£3.9m) of interest during the first half of this year, a rise from €2.7m in the first six months of 2019.

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EstateGuru funded 398 projects with €43.9m during the months from January to June this year, compared to 235 projects financed via €33.8m in the first half of 2019.

14,293 new investors joined the platform in the first six months of 2020, almost double from that last year. The majority of new investors were from Germany, followed by Estonians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Italians, Spanish, Austrians and investors from 99 other countries.

In May, EstateGuru launched a funding round on Seedrs and exceeded its €350,000 funding target by threefold, raising €1,013,000.

The funding is for the platform’s expansion plans, which include launching into other countries, with Germany prioritised, product development and attracting institutional investors.