Summer Q&A with Alan Peck, CEO of Investown.
Investor meetup: what investors were most interested in?
We would like to thank you for attending the meeting with CEO Alan Peck. Thank you for all your questions, thanks to which we have received many new stimuli. Read the answers to the questions that interested you the most below, or take a look straight to full recording of the meeting.
900 proinvested project stages — this is quite a lot, and not always everything will work out. How do you approach prolongations?
We have seen an increase in overdue projects in the last few months. To address this problem, we have invested significant resources in developing software that helps us recover interest more efficiently and communicate better with developers. This software significantly improved our ability to manage arrears and reduced the percentage of interest arrears from 6.2% to 4%. Our goal is to get the arrears below 2-3%.
Are you planning a new interesting feature “Autoinvest” — what exactly is it and when will this service be available?
The “Autoinvest” function is designed to facilitate the investment process for our users. It allows investors to set up an investment strategy in advance, such as investing in projects with LTV up to 70% for a maximum of 12 months. Once you have set your investment parameters, the system will automatically invest your funds according to these settings.
This feature is designed to save time and simplify the investment process. Currently, the average investor makes 26 investments, which can be time-consuming. With autoinvest, this process is automated and investors will have more time to focus on other activities.
We plan to launch this service as soon as possible and believe it will greatly simplify and streamline the investment process for all our users.
Will investors be able to invest in euros?
Yes, we are working to implement a system that will allow investors to hold wallets in a variety of currencies including euros. This system will make it easy to invest in euros without the need to convert through banks, thus minimizing fees. Currency conversion will take place directly on our platform for very low fees (approximately 0,25%).
We plan to launch this feature during the fall of this year and will inform all investors about it in due course. With this step, we want to make investing easier for users who receive payouts in euros or have cash in that currency.
Forex accounts are part of a strategy to expand into other countries. What are Investown's expansion plans?
Expansion is a significant part of the company's strategy. We have already launched the first Slovak project and we have ambitions to expand our platform to other European Union countries such as Germany, Austria, Poland and others. Euro accounts are a key part of this expansion, as they will allow people from these countries to invest in Czech projects and vice versa.
We also plan to allow investment in projects abroad, not only in Western European countries, but also in higher yielding countries such as Romania. In this way, we want to offer diversified investment opportunities and allow our investors to profit from different markets. We plan to launch the expansion into Germany later this year, probably in October-December.
Will Czech investors be able to invest abroad and foreign investors in Czech real estate?
In the first phase, we will allow foreign investors to invest in Czech projects. In this way, we want to accelerate the financing and activation of projects, because interesting Czech projects are increasing. In the second phase, planned for next year, we will open the possibility of investing in projects in Germany, Poland and other European countries.
We are therefore preparing projects in Germany, Poland and France and are working intensively to develop our network of partners and developers in these countries. The aim is to offer attractive and diversified investment options to our investors.
Your default is 0%, isn't that odd?
Default 0% is the result of our intensive work and approach to risk management. We were the first to obtain a CNB crowdfunding license and set up processes that minimize risks and ensure return on investment. We work very intensively with developers and try to help them overcome obstacles that may arise during the implementation of projects.
We have recently set a fixed limit of 90 days overdue for loan repayment and commencement of recovery. The result will be cooperation only with quality developers, and for investors investing only in the highest quality projects.
When we look at your competition, its rates are a few percentage points higher. Why is that?
Our strategy is focused on a 100 percent return on investment, which means we focus on less risky projects with lower interest rates. We search for projects from developers with a long history of successful projects, which allows us to minimize risk and ensure stable returns.
Competition often offers higher interest on riskier projects that may have higher default rates. This leads to higher risk for investors and a longer recovery process. Our goal is to avoid these risks and focus on projects that have a high probability of success, ensuring stability and satisfaction for our investors.
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