Mintos

File:Mintos.jpg

Mintos

Type	Joint stock company
Founded	2015
Headquarters	Riga, Latvia
Area served	Europe
Products	Peer-to-peer lending marketplace
Website	www.mintos.com

Mintos is a peer-to-peer lending marketplace that connects investors with borrowers of various loan originators. Mintos was the first P2P lending platform in Latvia, and provides opportunities to invest in loans in four countries – Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Georgia, as well as different loan products – mortgage loans, secured car loans, small business loans and personal loans. P2P marketplace Mintos is open to international investors from all over Europe. As of November 2015, the platform has more than 3,200 registered investors from more than 30 countries, noting that through Mintos loans in amount of €7,3 million in has funded. Investments can be done from as low as 10 EUR.

History

Mintos team started to work on the idea in mid 2014 and launched the platform in January 2015. More than €250 000 had been invested in secure loans through Mintos P2P lending platform in the first week.

In March 2015 Mintos starts offering investors an opportunity to invest in loans secured by a vehicle that are originated and serviced by Mogo in Estonia.

In May 2015 Mintos in cooperation with Mogo introduce buy-back guarantee to the investors, first of its kind in the industry. The buy-back guarantee means that in case the loan becomes delinquent for more than 60 days, it is repurchased from investor at principal value plus accrued interest, as a result the investor does not bear default risk.

In May 2015 Mintos starts offering secured car loans in Lithuania that are provided to consumers in cooperation with Mogo, market leading car loan provider in the region.

In June 2015 have co-founded the Crowdfunding Association of Latvia.

In July 2015 Capitalia joins the Mintos lending marketplace. Loans issued by Capitalia are available on Mintos marketplace and each and every investor can invest in small and medium enterprises in Latvia and Lithuania.

Mintos is planning to move the platform to the UK and submit it to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory supervision. The decision was made due to the fact that the UK, and London in particular, is the world’s largest centre for FinTech.

In September 2015 Creamfinance joins the Mintos platform. Unsecured short-term loans, originated by Creamfinance in Georgia with the CreditON brand, are available for investment on the platform. By reaching an agreement with the non-bank lender Creamfinance, the peer-to-peer lending platform Mintos has expanded investment opportunities by offering investors the opportunity to invest in short-term unsecured loans issued in Georgia.

Operations

Business model

Mintos is a marketplace lending platform that brings together investors and borrowers by enabling various loan originators to use a marketplace lending model in funding loans. Previously loan originators established their own platforms; now Mintos offers a single platform to those non-bank lenders that seek to sell loans. This means non-bank lenders do not have to make major investments in establishing and maintaining their own platforms. By connecting to the Mintos platform non-bank lenders get an instant access to investors that are looking to purchase marketplace lending assets. Thus, non-bank lenders can focus on their core skill of originating loans.

Investors

Mintos investor base comes from more than 30 different countries across Europe. Total number of investors as at November 2015 is 3,204.

Returns to investors

So far the average net annual return for investors investing via the Mintos platform have been slightly below 13%, but it can vary for different investors because of diverse opportunities to complement their own investment portfolio.

Recognitions

Mintos won the title of the best startup in Rietumu FinTech Challenge organized by TechHub Riga and Rietumu banka in 2015.

Mintos has been selected as the runner up for The One to Watch award presented by AltFi Awards 2015.

Other activities

Mintos was one of the sponsors and took part in one of the largest peer-to-peer lending conferences "LendIt Europe 2015".

External links

• Official website

• Claus Lehmann (7 September 2015). "Interview with Martins Sulte, Co-Founder and CEO of Mintos" P2P-Banking.com Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Erin Hobey (21 May 2015). "Latvian P2P Lender Mintos Expands into Lithuania", Crowdfund Insider. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Mintos "Statistics" Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Mintos "About us" Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Lelde Petrane "Savstarpējo aizdevumu platformā investēti 250 000 eiro", Dienas Bizness. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Mintos "Expanding Operations" Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• Mintos "Buyback guarantee for secured car loans on Mintos" Retrieved 12 November 2015.
• Mintos "Mintos expands to Lithuania" Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• BC "Crowdfunding Association of Latvia established", The Baltic Course. Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• Capitalia "Now everyone can invest in SME in Latvia" Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• "Creamfinance Partnership with Mintos to Offer Investments in Loans in Georgia" Retrieved 11 November 2015.
• Mintos "Short-term personal loans available on Mintos platform" Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• "Creamfinance Partnership with Mintos to Offer Investments in Loans in Georgia" Retrieved 11 November 2015
• Claus Lehmann (7 September 2015). "Interview with Martins Sulte, Co-Founder and CEO of Mintos" P2P-Banking.com Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Mintos "Statistics" Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Mintos "Expanding Operations" Retrieved 16 October 2015.
• TechHub Riga "FinTech Challenge: finances, digital wave and Mintos", TechHub blog. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
• Alt Fi 2015 Awards. Industry Awards. Retrieved 25 November 2015.
• LendIt "LendIt Europe Sponsors" Retrieved 14 October 2015.