A future where wealth-building is no longer a privilege but a possibility for all

Having spent more than a decade building an international consumer finance company, our founder Aaro saw firsthand how consumer lending in Europe was funded: through banks, institutional investors, and bond markets. These channels were often slow, expensive, and largely inaccessible to ordinary people. At the same time, there were millions of Europeans holding cash in bank accounts at practically zero interest, looking for a better return. Many turned to the stock market, but single stocks and even equity funds come with significant volatility, and not everyone has the appetite or the time horizon to ride that out. The problem was simple: lending companies needed flexible funding and retail investors needed a way to earn attractive, stable yields without the rollercoaster of public markets. Nobody was connecting these two sides in a way that was simple and transparent enough. I believed we could do better: build a regulated, simple, and trustworthy platform that gives every European investor access to returns that were previously available only to institutions.

We built Lendermarket for the person who has already taken one step beyond traditional banking. Not necessarily a financial expert, but someone who understands that leaving money in a bank account means losing money to inflation. Someone who is willing to put in a bit more effort, and take some risk, to earn 10 to 15% returns instead of settling for 1 to 2%. Our investor is curious, does their own research, values transparency, and expects the platform to treat them like an adult rather than hiding risks in fine print. Over time, we have seen our investors come from very different backgrounds, from IT specialists to retirees, but what unites them is the desire to put their money actively to work.

We wanted investing in higher-yield instruments to be as simple and accessible as putting money in a bank account. That feeling of being in control of your financial future, that your money is working for you rather than sitting idle somewhere.What we want investors to feel when using Lendermarket is empowerment. The sense that they have access to opportunities that were previously reserved for institutions or wealthy individuals, and that they can build passive income on their own terms, starting from as little as 10 euros.Financial freedom does not necessarily mean becoming a millionaire. It means having enough passive income that you can focus on what truly matters to you, whether that is family, travel, building a business, or simply peace of mind. That is the feeling we want Lendermarket to provide.

Regulation was a priority from the very beginning. We chose to apply for a European Union crowdfunding service provider licence from the Central Bank of Ireland and received that licence in December 2024. It was a longer and more demanding path, but we believed that building on a solid regulatory foundation was the right approach for a platform that asks people to trust it with their money.The second principle was simplicity. We did not want to build a platform where an investor needs to be a financial analyst to understand what is going on. A minimum investment of 10 euros, clear terms, auto invest functionality, all loans with a buyback guarantee: these were not random features but deliberate choices to make investing accessible to everyone.

Investing always involves risk. We never tried to hide that. On the contrary, we built a structured process where every risk is clearly defined and mitigated as much as possible. The buyback guarantee means the loan originator is obligated to repurchase the loan if the borrower defaults. The skin-in-the-game requirement means originators bear part of the risk themselves. We also learned a great deal from the 2022 to 2024 experience. The payment delays were a difficult period, but we resolved all obligations in full with interest. That experience strengthened our processes and made us a better platform.

We see Lendermarket growing into something much larger than just a P2P lending platform. Our vision is to build Europe's leading intelligent investment platform, where technology helps every investor, whether beginner or experienced, make smarter decisions and build passive income. We are still at the beginning. There are millions of people in Europe who keep their money idle in bank accounts, earning practically nothing. Our job is to offer them a better alternative: a regulated, transparent, and intelligent way to put their money to work. Ten years from now, I want us to be the place every European turns to when they want to do something smarter with their money than simply leaving it in a bank account.