Mintos, a financial technology startup that offers a global marketplace for investments in loans, has reached EUR 3 billion in total loans financed. This milestone comes just four months after announcing its EUR 2 billion milestone earlier this year. Mintos has also doubled the number of employees to 140 during this time and now works with over 60 alternative lending companies across the world to offer loans for investment to more than 170 000 investors globally.
“Reaching the EUR 3 billion milestone in just four months after achieving our previous milestone is a further encouragement that we are on the right track of opening up a new asset class to retail investors and rethinking how money flows from those who want to save and invest to those who want to borrow. We have fast become the go-to marketplace for people who want to invest in loans because of the sheer volume of loans and diversification opportunities we offer. The market opportunity is huge and we will continue investing in people and product, and have a sharp focus on growth.” – Mintos CEO and Co-Founder Martins Sulte
Financial services, especially when it comes to investing, have long been a privilege to a few with a considerable amount of available financial resources. In the last decade, financial technologies have changed that for many. Also, loans as an asset class have traditionally been available only to institutional investors and high net worth individuals. That changed with the advent of peer-to-peer lending, however, the offering to investors has been limited to what platforms originate and usually constrained to a particular country or loan type.
The Mintos marketplace, through partnering with 65 lending companies across the world, delivers a simple, transparent, and diversified investing experience to more than 170 000 investors globally who want to invest in loans. Investors can buy fractions of loans available on the marketplace, from short-term loans to mortgage and small business loans, and receive interest when borrowers make repayments. To date, investors have seen consistent returns of around 12% per year on average. Anyone with as little as EUR 10 can start investing on Mintos at the convenience of their laptop or smartphone.
Mintos offers three different ways of investing in loans – Manual Investing, Auto Invest, and via our most recent product called Invest & Access. Manual Investing allows investors to cherry pick loans and is used by many experienced investors. Auto Invest automatically invests money according to the investor’s chosen strategy and helps save time spent on investing. Investors can create their own strategy or use one of the many templates available on the Mintos marketplace. About 80% of all investors opt for Auto Invest.
Invest & Access is the easiest way to get started with Mintos. During the couple of months since its release, more than half of new investors have chosen to start investing with Invest & Access. Investors can just set the preferred investment amount and get a fully diversified portfolio. And if investors need access to their capital, they can instantly cash out anytime, subject to market demand.
Since the beginning of the year Mintos has doubled the number of employees, now welcoming 140 people in its offices in Riga, Berlin, Vilnius, and Warsaw. The company plans to have 200 employees by the end of the year.
In April 2019 Mintos launched the sustainability initiative “Mintos Impact Fund”, with a mission to contribute to social and environmental causes in geographies where the company operates. The first project that is being developed and currently set to launch in September 2019, is a crowdfunding support for the World Wildlife Fund’s (WWF) Baltic Ecoregion Programme, comprised of WWF and NGO partners from Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.
