Envestio Review

First of all, I would like everyone to know that this is a 100% impartial and unbiased Envestio review. In this review, we will take a look at the rates, the loans offered by the platform and of course, the generous sign-up bonus they offer.

+++++++++++++++

On January 2020 and after Kuetzal collapsed, Envestio’s investors started liquefying their investments causing something like a bank run. The bad thing is how the platform handled the situation. They took the website down and their board members deleted their social media accounts (Facebook, LinkedIn). This was a terrible way to handle this situation and even if it turns out to be a misunderstanding, I don’t believe that Envestio can come back from this. Personally, I believe that the platform in a scam. If you are still looking for a business crowdlending platform check out Crowdestor.

I am leaving this review up for transparency.

+++++++++++++++

What is Envestio?

Envestio started as a private investment fund in 2014 and now is a crowdfunding platform, which offers new ways of making investments in traditional and innovative investment projects. Their offices are in Tallinn, Estonia. Envestio provides investment opportunities in business loans and some development projects, which were carefully chosen from many applications and thoroughly studied by Envestio analytical team. Envestio takes care of the transparent fundraising process and ensures honest and unbiased information exchange between all participants of every investment project. The minimum investment in a single loan is only €1, but the minimum funding deposit is €100, and all loans are listed in EUR.

Loans

Loans on Envestio consist of projects from renewal of freight containers and real estate developments to crypto-mining farm building. The period of the loans start from just 3 and can be as loan as 24 months. They provide plenty of information, and it’s nice to put an actual business before the loan. You also get a detailed summary of the project, along with a long project description.

Rates

Rates on Envestio start from 15% and can be as high as 23% for some crypto-mining projects. The average interest rate is over 18.5%!

Loan liquidity

Envestio regularly adds large projects and will notify you with an email before they do, but they get funded pretty quickly. I would like to see Envestio’s management adding projects more regularly, but of course, I also like to see loans that are not getting defaulted. I am a huge proponent of quality before quantity.

Buyback Guarantee

Envestio doesn’t offer a traditional buyback guarantee, but all loans are “secured debt”, meaning that 90% of the capital is secured.

Here is an example on Envestio’s Website:

• You invest EUR 1000 in a project that closes on November 30th, 2018. The project assumes monthly interest payments.
• At any moment before 31/11/2018, it is possible to sell back the investment share to Envestio with a 5% fee charge, i.e., for EUR 950. All interest payments, which are already received, remain in your possession.
• In case the borrower does not repay the principal after 31/11/2018, the event of technical default takes place. After that, the borrower still has five working days to settle the debt without legal proceedings. If this is not done, then the delay turns into standard default and Envestio, with the support of an Estonian debt collector agency, starts legal proceedings against the borrower. Including execution of all guarantees that they provided.
• You, who invested EUR 1000 in a secured debt project, get back 80% of the investment principal, which is EUR 800, on the next working day after the event of standard default has taken place. For the remaining 20% there is a choice: instantly get back half of this amount or wait until the debt is recovered from the borrower. As a result, at least 90% of the investment is fully secured.

Auto-invest

On July 25th, 2019, Envestio introduced its Auto-invest function. As you can see in the screenshot below, you can configure it to invest in specific loan types, duration, etc.

Risks

Since Envestios’ “principal repurchase guarantee” covers 90% of the principal, the maximum amount you can lose is 10% if you wish not to wait for the recovery of the investment. If you decide to go along the recovery process and there is no collection of funds, then, the maximum amount you can lose is 20%. So the risk is whether Envestio will have the available cash to buy back your share of the loan. It is also important to note that Envestio has an excellent track record, and it seems that they can choose their projects carefully since not a single loan has ever defaulted. Pretty impressive, huh? For more information about the risks from peer-to-peer lending activities, please the “What Is Peer-to-Peer Lending” article.

Secondary Market

There is no Secondary Market; however, you can sell your loan back to Envestio at any time before the due date with a 5% penalty. This is pretty high (although other platforms charge higher fees for that), so before investing make sure you are happy with the duration of the loan and you will not be needing the money before maturity. Of course, unexpected things do come up, so it’s nice to know that the option is there.

Fees

The only fee that Envestio charges is for withdrawals for less than €5, which is €2. For withdrawals of €5 and more, it’s free of charge. Also, there is a 5% penalty if you wish to sell the loan back to Envestio before maturity.

Envestio Sign Up Process

The sign-up process is pretty simple. You can click here (by doing that you will also earn 5 €+0.5% additional cashback for the first 270 days) and go through the steps on the registration page. It just asks for some general information, and you don’t have to upload any documents until the moment you wish to make a withdraw. The entire process is pretty fast, and it only takes a couple of minutes.

Envestio’s Competitors

Envestio’s main competitors are Crowdestor, October, also, CrowdEstate, EstateGuru, BulkEstate, and Grupeer. There are some other platform reviews you can check in this page.

Envestio Review – Conclusion

Envestio offers a very attractive platform, granted, they don’t have a secondary market and the traditional buyback guarantee. Of course, you can sell the loan back to Envestio, the yields are pretty high, the projects listed are pretty interesting and innovative, and they have an excellent track record with no defaulted loans so far. Overall, I would recommend Envestio for a small part of your crowdlending portfolio to have some exposure to higher yield loans. I also like that it gives you the investment repayment schedule as shown below.

Bonus:

As I said earlier, this is a 100% impartial and unbiased review of Envestio. However, if you would like to invest through Envestio, I would appreciate it if you could use my referral link. This gives you an exclusive 0.5% cashback from each investment made during the first 270 days plus a €5 for your first investment of more than €100.

If you would like to add something about Envestio or share your personal experience, please leave your comments below.

Until Next Time,
Peter