I asked Grupeer CEO:
Would you invest 1 million € in Grupeer?
Let’s read the answer in this upside-down interview!
Alla Kisika from Grupeer 16th July 2019
Table of Contents
What is Grupeer in few words?
Grupeer is a P2P investment platform offering business loans and development projects all in one place.
What are the advantages for investors?
Investors are better off investing with Grupeer because they get the best of two worlds:
- Development projects
- Loans
Besides that, the return on our projects is higher than many of our competitors offer.
Our track record is excellent, we have a zero-default rate since our foundation.
Additionally, all our investment deals are protected by Buyback Guarantee just like more famous platforms like Mintos.
Why is your team the best team to do the job?
Of course, it is.
To say Grupeer has the best professionals in the market, would be to say nothing.
The IT team which developed and maintain the platform has a banking background, with in-depth knowledge of all internal money flow processes and tough security requirements.
- The co-founder Andrejs Kisiks is coming from the construction industry, with a trained eye for excellent and promising projects.
- I am Andrejs’ sister, and second co-founder Alla Kisika. I have spent many years in the UK, working in the construction industry as well.
- The in-house team of risk analysts and due diligence specialists are coming from Big Four with an amazing track record.
- The team of loan origination partnership are bright professionals with extensive experience in banking and financial industries. Many of them are coming from world-known international banks.
- Many professionals were headhunted and even came back to Latvia from abroad thanks to our in-house HR specialist, who, by the way, also was headhunted from her HR firm.
- This is not everyone, we have many other departments and brilliant talent at Grupeer.
You should visit and meet us!
Are you profitable? If yes, since when?
No, we didn’t reach the profitability yet.
We are operating since February 2017 and we are continuously investing in the improvement of the platform.
What returns do you offer?
Is 14% yearly the real ROI?
We offer returns from 10% to 13%.
On top of that, we have frequent CashBack offers, so the average ROI right now is 13.46%.
How many loans/projects do you reject on average and why?
We reject around 70% of projects that are coming to us.
We have developed an in-house scoring model, which allows testing the financial part of the projects/company.
Our risk analysts are very prudent and are quite strict, because they are aiming to maintain a zero default rate that was given to them as a mandate.
Besides risk analysis, our marketing department decides which investment deals are unique on the market, what added value to our portfolio it will bring and how it will help Grupeer to stand out from the crowd.
Moreover, the account management team advise what is the investors’ sentiment regarding projects.
If the investors’ feedback is that they are not interested in a particular project or return, we don’t go further with the placement.
We are very selective, and we will maintain this approach.
What can we expect next?
Will we have a secondary market? Loan ratings?
Yes, many important improvements are coming very soon.
We are very open about our plans and we have recently published an update on our plans, which you can read in our blog post here.
So, if you won 1 million euros at the lottery would you invest it in Grupeer?
If yes, how will you spread it?
Of course, I would invest in Grupeer!
In reality, I would donate some money to charities and then putting some sum for investment.
We actually, always recommend to our clients to spread their risks and not to put all income into one investment vehicle.
Grupeer strategy straight from the CEO🔥
If I hypothetically, had 1 million euros for the investment I would set up five auto-invest strategies.
1) the one with high ROI
2) the one which real estate development projects
3) Belarus focused
4) short -term investment strategy
5) diversification strategy
Then I would set a limit on each strategy 50k to 200k, with a higher limit on development projects.
In my view, these strategies cover your investment requirements and all you will need to do is to sip a cocktail on a yacht while your money is working for you.
When was the hardest day for you at Grupeer?
☄️Why it cannot happen again?
The hardest day for Grupeer was at the end of March 2019.
At the beginning of March 2019, we have signed a partnership with the payment system with hope to strengthen cooperation between fin-tech companies.
We have received many complaints from our customers that their deposit account is not credited for a very long time.
By the end of the month, we have found out that the payment system provider has frozen the money our clients were transferring to us.
The company did not even explain what are the reasons behind their actions.
We have decided to top up the investors’ investment accounts from our own funds.
We have communicated with clients continuously to reduce their negative experience.
Until now we are in the process of resolving this issue with the payment system, but at least our clients are happy.
Why did you start Grupeer?
The idea to found Grupeer came to Andrejs Kisiks.
He has extensive experience in the construction industry.
Couple of years ago, he was working on the promising project, however, he encountered issues with securing the financing for the project. He found many investors agreeing to contribute a certain part of the investment, however, they were not satisfied by the presence of some other investors.
Eventually, the project has not been agreed on.
Grupeer in Andrejs’s mind was supposed to solve the problem of financing the large development projects, where investors are not agreeing with each other.
At Grupeer you don’t see who the other investors are, as Grupeer is an intermediary.
What do you do to prevent security/credit/whatever issues?
We have a very strong team of professionals who are on guard in all directions of the business.
💥 Why should one choose Grupeer over Crowdestate, EstateGuru, Mintos or any other P2P?
In Grupeer you get business loans as well as real estate development projects in one place.
The development projects offered by Grupeer are unique, as they are coming from the most lucrative parts of the world; we have a selection of projects from Scandinavia, for example.
The return is also above the average with zero default rate and buyback guarantee on all deals.
How do you manage to have a low default rate?
The business model we have adopted seems to work.
Also, we were very conservative from the beginning, placing only safe projects and loans.
The due diligence team is doing their work properly.
What strategy have you got in place to avoid Grupeer to be affected by a global economic downturn?
We believe that a global downturn will not affect p2p investment market in the same force as other asset classes.
The reason why the crisis is not far away is the availability of “cheap money”.
All economic players, who relied on cheap money from central banks will be affected hard, as when the rates will go up, they will not function the same way.
With p2p loans the story is different.
The loans placed on the platforms are already issued at high-interest rates. The reasons vary.
Some borrowers don’t want to go through banks’ bureaucratic processes, some have a limited credit history.
Anyways, the business models of nonbanks lending industry are very different. Alternative finance-alternative cycles.
The best example of this is p2p company Zopa, the only p2p platform existing during the financial crisis of 2008.
When all asset classes suffered losses, it made a positive return to its investors.
In case of default or any of your originators,
how long will it take for an investor to recover their investment?
In the adverse scenario of the default of any of the loan originator, the process will be steered by the assigned liquidation administrator appointed by the government.
This process can take some time, however, Grupeer will assign a law firm which will represent the interest of Grupeer’s investors in this case and will make sure that all claims are satisfied.
Do you plan to give more assistance/indications to investors on
how to pay tax on p2p in their respective countries?
Yes, we are in the process of introducing this.
Is a new p2p regulation needed?
What do you know about it and how will investors be affected?
The financial regulator has not given any indications regarding the regulation of p2p investments market yet.
We believe that regulations will have a positive impact on the industry, as it will give to investors additional guarantees and will clean up the market from incompetent and dishonest players.
European p2p lending is skyrocketing. Demand from investors is rising.
Will Grupeer lower the interest rates paied to investors?
We have no such plans in the near future; however, we must adapt to the market conditions to maintain our business model profitable.
We have lowered the interest rates already; before you could find projects yielding 15%.
However, we openly done that and have informed our clients well before this decision has been implemented.
Grupeer has explained and communicated what was the reason for that and have given an update regarding the market conditions.
What kind of person are you?
What motivates you?
I am very passionate about what I do, and I always have a lot of energy.
The thing that motivates me the most is the understanding that Grupeer indirectly helping many businesses grow, through attracting the working capital.
Additionally, investors can earn premium returns, which are not eaten by inflation.
This business model is beneficial for all party. And of course, my colleagues, who are not afraid of the challenges is the best motivation.
Does Grupeer focus more on containing risk, bringing revenue to investors or being profitable itself?
I would say the first two factors.
We contain risk to keep a great reputation and also it goes hand in hand with revenues to investors.
We decided to forgo a positive profit this year to increase investment into the improvement of our platform.
Motto, vision and mission. How much you share it?
Motto: your wise investments.
We believe that the old investment products are not doing the job of earning the passive income and to accumulate savings for future is not feasible anymore due to the unstable political situation as well as inflation.
Grupeer is an innovative fintech which simply brings you great returns, that’s why it’s “your wise investments”.
I completely share this vision.
Teaser
In June at the P2P lending conference in Riga, I had a nice chat with the CEO of the most fast-growing P2P platform in Europe, Grupeer
That cool chat became this interview, but I wanted to make it fun and useful for you readers
I want you to know what we have been talking about… “behind the scenes”, I hope you’ve enjoyed it
My final thoughts
Grupeer is a young and aggressively growing company and the feeling I’ve got meeting the staff was as if they have been doing this forever.
Answers were clear and punctual.
The attitude is enthusiastic and they have a lot of plans.
My personal feeling is also that they did not expect such a big investor/market response, but probably, they’ve arrived at the right time with the right product.
Good for them. Good for us investors too.
At the P2P conference they were “gold sponsors” and here is a short video with Grupeer:
Grupeer has also an informative blog and a newsletter.
Thank you for your time Alla, I look forward to asking you more 🌶 difficult questions in the near future!
True from RevenueLand
5 Grupeer investment strategies straight from the CEO⚡️
A.K. : If I had 1 million euros to invest, I would set up five auto-invest strategies
One with high ROI
One with real estate development projects
Belarus focused
Short-term investment strategy
Diversification strategy
“We have decided to top up the investors’ investment accounts from our own funds.” This statement concerns me a lot. What was the amount blocked by the payment system provider and why so far that money is blocked?
Most people reported that those issues are solved.
The one she talks about was in March, it was a minor service provider. If you’re experiencing any delay PLS write them and they will help you 100%. Customer service is excellent there, even if they are growing so fast.There was a discussion about it on the Secret’s FB group.
What do you think about the current situation of Grupeer?
The complete answer is in the comments below the compare P2P lending tool.
I trust that Grupeer will do everything to protect those who put their trust in it. I’m pretty sure they’re not scammers, rather they might have bad friends.
The Ruble crisis, the oil shock (Russian partners) and the epidemic may have affected, but I have no definite news, so I keep quiet.
I feel sorry for the investors because this case has nothing to do with cases like envestio and kuetzal. This is a lightning bolt out of the blue, Grupeer was a sustainable p2p and had a good team. Just a few weeks ago they released a new product. I’d say that’s not the typical attitude of someone planning to run away with the loot.