Lonvest Review
- Written by
- Just P2P
- •
- Updated January 11, 2025
Lonvest is a peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform where individuals invest their money with lending companies from the SpaceCrew Finance Group to provide personal credit loans. In return for these short-term investments, investors receive scheduled interest payments from those loan originators.
Although Lonvest launched recently, it builds upon the extensive experience of the SpaceCrew Finance Group in the lending industry. The platform has ambitious plans to expand its investment opportunities across three continents, leveraging the group’s existing presence in these markets.
Let’s perform a factual review of Lonvest.
Table des matières
What is Lonvest ?
Lonvest is a peer-to-peer lending platform based in Croatia that connects investors with companies from the group SpaceCrew Finance, a financial group operating in Europe, Asia, and South America. Starting from 10€, investors have the possibility to purchase claim rights on short-term loans, earning monthly interest payments from borrower repayments.
Company Lonvest Platform d.o.o
As stated in their legal registration document, Lonvest Platform d.o.o was created in March 2023 and their headquarters are located in Zagreb, Croatia (Like Robocash). The platform is registered within the legal company registration system with the Personal Identification Number (OIB) 90170011816 and the European Unique Identifier (EUI) HRSR.081501022.
The platform originated with the shareholders and managers of the SpaceCrew Finance group, which has been active in digital lending since 2016. Logically, they spotted that the growing P2P lending sector was complementary to their activities. Thus, Lonvest was designed to create synergies between their loan originators and individual investors in Europe.
Platform founders
The founders of Lonvest met in 2015 to set up the Ukrainian short-term online lending company MyCredit. Joined by the TAS group, from which they raised 3M$, they developed their lending activities in Asia and Europe. In 2023, they jointly created Lonvest to facilitate the expansion of their activities into new markets :
Roman Katerynchyk is a Fintech entrepreneur who studied IT and telecommunications at the National Aerospace University. In 2006, he founded Artjoker, a software consulting company in Web & Mobile Development. Since 2015, he has been developing SpaceCrew Finance Group, successively founding MyCredit (2015), OnCredit and Monto (2019), ClickCredit (2022).
Nataliya Holyak has spent her academic and professional career in accounting and finance, much of it with Financial Solution Center LLC. In 2021, she took over the management of the Asian holding company of SpaceCrew Finance Group in Singapore : Space Crew Asia Pte Ltd. Natalya is also the Director of the Directix OÜ agency.
Roman Katerynchyk
Nataliya Holyak
Management team
The 2 founders of Lonvest assume the strategic positions of CEO (Roman) and CFO (Nataliya), but they are also supported by two other team members. These are Kate Devyatkina and Oleksandr Prokopiev, both long-standing employees of Roman Katerynchyk’s Artjoker company.
Kate Devyatkina holds the position of COO, in charge of monitoring market trends, define the investment products and services, and create marketing strategies. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication, and previously worked at Artjoker as Chief Growth Officer.
Oleksandr Prokopiev is the CTO, or more precisely, the Technical Advisor within the team. He studied computer science with Roman Katerynchyk. Then, in 2009, he joined Artjoker as a developer, climbing the ladder step by step to become CEO of this software development company specializing in Fintech.
Kate Devyatkina
Oleksandr Prokopiev
Lonvest statistics in 2024
Here are some statistics for the current year:
- Total funds invested : 1,130,839 €
- Total interests paid to investors : 22 K€
- Average annual return : 12.75%
- Number of investors : 525
- Average portfolio per investor : 1,180 €
The investment activity started quite quickly on the platform right after their launch in April 2024. So far, amounts invested have ranged between 10K€ and 130K€ per month, certainly due to the low number of loan originators operating on the platform.
But during the last quarter of 2024, Lonvest shows signs of acceleration approaching 200K€ in one month. The challenge now for the platform is to reach 1 M€ invested monthly as are able to do other platforms which started recently like Indemo.
How does Lonvest work ?
Lonvest is a peer-to-peer (P2P) investment platform connecting investors with loan originators (lending companies from Europe, Asia, and Latin America) who offer opportunities to participate in their business activities. Through structured agreements, private and corporate investors provide capital and receive regular interest-based returns at predetermined rates.
Lonvest is a P2P marketplace
As an intermediary, Lonvest connects investors with loan originators who operate in various countries, providing loans to local borrowers and generating interest payments. The role of the platform is to facilitate these transactions and ensure that financial and legal terms are respected by both parties.
To expand their lending activities and increase their capital, loan originators list their investment opportunities on the platform. This model allows them to access additional funding sources to support their lending, develop their market shares and grow their operations at the national level.
On the other side, the investors can browse and select loan opportunities that align with their investment strategy based on criteria such as loan amount, term, and interest rate. By investing in these loans, they receive monthly interest payments, which they can either withdraw or reinvest.
Chronology of a P2P investment
On Lonvest, the minimum amount that can be invested in a claim right is 10€, knowing that the duration of loans range from short term (30 days) to middle term (3 months to 1 year). Returns offered start from 9% and go up to 12.50%, and interest payments are transferred to investors on a daily basis.
Moreover, it should be noted that, unlike platforms like Esketit for example, they do not apply extensions to loan investments. Once a loan reaches its term, the principal is reimbursed together with the remaining interests.
In case of default of payment by a borrower, investors benefit from a buyback guarantee after 60 days, meaning the loan originators have to repurchase the claim right. Moreover, they also legally must pay all the interests generated during this additional period to every investor.
Investing on Lonvest
Who can invest ?
The requirements to invest on Lonvest are similar to other platforms located in Croatia : individuals should be at least 18 years old and hold a bank account from the European Union or a third country currently regarded as having a comparable AML system. The platform also accepts corporate investments.
There are additional criteria as the platform excludes a list of 63 countries or regions, mainly in Africa and in Asia, but also the United States and Russia. As part of Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD), a proof of address may also be asked to investors.
According to their latest statistics, investors on the platform mainly come from the 5 Top following countries :
Spain 32%
Germany 14%- 🇫🇷 France 10%
- 🇵🇹 Portugal 7%
- 🇮🇹 Italy 7%
And for now Lonvest is available in the 4 main languages representing most investors in Europe : English, German, Spanish and French. At that moment, there is no plan from the platform to extend further the translations available.
What do we invest in ?
Individuals who are registered on Lonvest can invest their capital with lending companies from the SpaceCrew Finance Group. These lending companies provide personal credit loans to individuals in the country where they operate mainly in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
SpaceCrew Finance offers two financial products : online credit loans between 10$ and 500$ for a maximum of 30 days, and installment loans up to 500$ for a maximum of 70 days.
Although SpaceCrew Finance is present in several countries, the offer on Lonvest is limited to Mexico with the loan originator : Clicredito. Singapore is also mentioned but no investments are offered in Asia. The same applies to OnCredit, in Sri Lanka, which was listed for some time but no longer appears on the platform.
Registration process
To register on Lonvest is a straightforward procedure during which investors need to go through the usual Know Your Client (KYC) verification. The only material required is an ID card (or a passport), a personal email and a smartphone. They also encourage investors to install the 2FA authentication.
Considering Lonvest is quite a recent platform in the P2P landscape, in addition to interesting returns, they offer a loyalty program. But to benefit from it, investors need to be registered for over 90 days and invest at least 5,000 euros.
On top of the interest rate offered, investors who benefit from the loyalty program can add up to +1% on each investment they make as the platform offers 3 loyalty bonus levels :
- Sapphire : +0.5% over 5,000 € invested
- Emerald : +0.75% over 10,000 € invested
- Diamond : +1% over 20,000 € invested
How to invest on Lonvest ?
This P2P marketplace only offers the possibility to invest by using an auto-investment strategy and unlike most other P2P platforms, manual investment is not possible. But investors have to define their own customized strategies as the platform does not offer predefined investment strategies.
To set up a customized strategy, investors need to specify the amount to invest, the country where they wish to place their capital (which determines the loan originator), and the period of investment (1, 3, 6 or 12 months).
Additionally, there is a “reinvestment” button to activate for those investors who wish to reinvest automatically their capital and profits once the loan and the interests are reimbursed. Let’s add that Lonvest does not offer a secondary market to resell our investments or to buy from sellers.
Is it safe to invest on Lonvest ?
Lonvest is a recent platform that leverages SpaceCrew Finance’s experience in the consumer credit sector. Thus, investors benefit from both the lending company’s and group’s guarantees. However, the platform is not regulated, and the investments offered lack diversity and cannot be resold due to the absence of a secondary market.
Pros to investing on Lonvest
100% Buyback guarantee
The policy applied by Lonvest is to back every investment offered on their platform by a buyback guarantee in case of loan default for more than 60 days. In such a case, the loan originator is legally obliged to buy back the investment and pay the interest that should have been received.
This is a good point, as this is not the policy applied by platforms such as Mintos, for example, but it should be remembered that a buyback guarantee is just as strong as a loan originator. Therefore, investors should have access to the financial data of Clicredito, the main listed loan originator.
An experienced financial group
SpaceCrew Finance Group started their activities in 2017 in Ukraine with payday loans (high-interest short-term loans), and quickly acquired a leading position. In 2020, they expanded their business model on Asian markets (Sri Lanka and Vietnam) and in 2022, they tried to position the group in Poland.
Their most recent success is in Mexico, where their small but very active team enables Lonvest to be among the few European platforms offering investments in this country. SpaceCrew Finance is also looking toward another promising Latin American market, Colombia, where Lendermarket is also present.
However, there is little information about Romania (which is nevertheless indicated as the next loan originator on their website), and we have no financial information about countries where the group is supposedly positioned, such as Croatia, Poland, Vietnam, and Singapore, where their regional hub is located.
SpaceCrew Finance Group guarantee
On Lonvest website, it is also indicated that in cases where a loan originator encounters financial difficulties and can not fulfill their buyback guarantee, a group guarantee will take over (Like PeerBerry). They offer this additional guarantee as a second layer of security to protect investors (except in the exceptional case of force majeure like a war).
Just like a buyback guarantee is as strong as the loan originator, a group guarantee is as strong as the financial group offering this protection, meaning that SpaceCrew Finance needs to demonstrate their financial solidity.
On that, SpaceCrew Finance Group provides limited information, only revealing select data about their business volumes without presenting proper annual reports. Moreover, the terms for activating this guarantee remain unclear, particularly regarding which entities within the group would be responsible for handling the debt and their respective levels of commitment to repay.
Cons to investing on Lonvest
Lonvest is not regulated
As a few other famous top-ranked P2P platforms, the founders chose Croatia to establish their company, and therefore, no regulation is needed to operate their P2P activities. In fact, the operating rules that apply to the platform are relatively minimal, as are the constraints for investors.
Although a regulation can be seen as an added layer of security, it is often a source of additional costs for all P2P stakeholders. Moreover, in the field of P2P lending, most of the oldest and serious platforms are not regulated, which is not the case for P2B lending platforms (Like Debitum for example).
More than regulations, which often do not really protect investors, the most important is the experience and track record of the platforms. Still being relatively recent, Lonvest has to demonstrate its long-term capacity to meet its contractual obligations to investors in terms of payments.
Need for more diversification
On their website, SpaceCrew Finance Group lists 6 active lending companies (Poland, Croatia, Ukraine, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Singapore) and 4 to come (Romania, Philippines, Mexico, Colombia). However, Lonvest currently offers only one loan originator on its platform (Clicredito).
Indeed, integrating a loan originator is not that simple, even when it belongs to the same group as the platform, since there are strong technical, legal, and organisational constraints before it can be listed.
The platform is still in its infancy and needs time to integrate the other loan originators. Nevertheless, given that the companies belong to the same group, several of them could have been listed as soon as it was launched (which suggests a certain haste).
No secondary market
Lonvest does not offer a secondary market which is a feature often requested by those investors who appreciate to be able to withdraw their capital any time. For some others, when secondary market offers a discount/premium option, it is also a possibility to make extra money by reselling.
But in reality, this issue has little importance given the short duration of investments offered on the platform (less than 12 months), knowing that the vast majority are less than 30 days.
Furthermore, Lonvest indicates the possibility of an early exit in their FAQ : Platform fees, but they also mentioned to us that they “do not charge any penalties for early deal closures“. The platform should clearly either get rid of this early exit option or update their FAQ which does not make sense.
Opinion on Lonvest
Created in 2023, Lonvest is a Croatia-based platform offering investments in short-term personal loans with relatively attractive returns. Like most other P2P platforms, all listed investments are backed by a 60-day buyback guarantee from each lending company that issues them.
All available loans are issued by subsidiaries of the SpaceCrew Finance group, whose experience in microcredit spans several continents. Investments also benefit from an additional group guarantee, thus reinforcing their security.
However, the fact that all lending companies belong to the same group limits diversification opportunities on the platform. This characteristic can be seen as either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on the investor, as the security of investments relies on SpaceCrew Finance’s financial strength.
This is why SpaceCrew Finance, even more than Lonvest, should demonstrate greater transparency regarding its financial situation by publishing annual reports from its lending companies and, ideally, audited financial statements that investors can use to assess the platform’s financial health.
SpaceCrew Finance is undeniably a promising financial group, but it still needs to strengthen its subsidiaries and implement the development of those announced on its website, in order to offer investors better geographical diversification.
In parallel, the platform should integrate more lending companies from the SpaceCrew Finance group. While technical and legal constraints exist, its unregulated status provides it with greater flexibility and enhanced capacity to move forward. That’s the choice made by an experienced platform like Swaper since 2016.
Since 2016, the founders of SpaceCrew Finance and Lonvest created an innovative ecosystem dedicated to microcredit, driven by young and dynamic entrepreneurial teams. Today, the group’s various lending companies operate in promising markets conducive to these activities.
The main challenge now is to consolidate this ecosystem and unlock its full potential by opening these new markets to P2P investors. This is the priority that the team must address to balance and sustain its business model.
Finally, beyond integrating new lending companies, Lonvest’s other major challenge is to attract more investors. To achieve this goal, the absence of regulation and a secondary market is not an obstacle, provided that the platform consistently strengthens its financial transparency and reporting.
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About the Author
Silvère is an economist and IT engineer with numerous years of experience in business management, FinTech investment and digital marketing. He invests mainly in crowdlending especially P2P lending, P2B lending, and real estate crowdfunding.
