Fagura

Idea

Introduction

Fagura is a P2P lending marketplace launched in Eastern Europe, aiming to become a digital bank. We are a fast-growing fintech company in a totally free market for p2p lending and alternative investments.

The company is incorporated in Estonia, a digital and safe country for investors. We will capitalize on the opportunities offered by the new EU Regulation for Crowdfunding 2020/1503 to obtain a crowdfunding license in Romania, which will allow us to quickly launch in other countries in Southeast Europe, a market of over 100 million individuals and entrepreneurs, which could provide and estimated profit between 10-20% for investors in loans.

We have tested and validated our platform in a small market (Republic of Moldova), a sandbox environment, and now we crowdfund to expand and launch the first p2p lending platform in the Romanian market (for borrowers) and all European countries (for investors). We intermediate p2p loans for individuals and our plan is to do the same for startups and SMEs.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Fagura is run by a powerful team, who managed 2 business exits in the past. Our fully automated online lending & alternative investment solution has been appreciated by the local market. Fagura.com was appointed the Brand of the Year in Fintech (Moldova) and nominated in the top 3 fintech projects at Future Banking Conference (Romania).

The funding decision is made in 1 second. The scoring module is based on machine learning and has a 97% correct approximation of default. Today, Fagura has an NPL of 3.03%, one of the lowest rates in the region. The average income (XIRR) of investors is between 10-20% annually.

The platform has been launched in beta version in January 2019. It's design and development have taken us almost 2 years. The founders have invested over 250,000 Euros to make this happen. We have managed to reach the next milestones:

- We have intermediated loans in the total value of 500,000 Euros
- 1 Angel investment round in Autumn 2020

- More than 22,900 accounts created
- We have received more than 7,000 loan requests and accepted 9% of them
- Funding decision in 1 second

After the platform was validated and our Scoring technology demonstrated its effectiveness, USAID and The European Fund for Southeast Europe (EFSE) offered us a grant to develop Scoring for startups and SMEs and to facilitate access to finance for SMEs and startups in the post-COVID era.

Monetisation strategy

The business model we have embraced is commission-based. The more we finance, the more the volumes and profits are. We take:
- 3% from borrowers
- 2% from investors

Additionally, we consider the option to sell our technology:

- After the launch of Scoring4Business, we will open the service to other financial institutions in the market, so that banks and other lending companies can use technology and facilitate access to finance to increase profitability and fulfill our mission.

- We will analyze and test the option to sell other technologies, including the technical platform, developed 100% in-house.

Use of proceeds

Since the release of the beta version, Fagura's operations have been funded by founders' contribution and Angel investments. The total funding has reached €265,000. We believe in the idea of the project and are willing to further fund the project. In 2021, we plan to make cash and a non-monetary cash contribution of around €50,000.

Fagura is an easy scale platform, that needs minor adjustments for expanding on other markets. For this round, Fagura needs an additional €255,000 to cover this costs. Most of the funds earned during the crowdfunding campaign will be used to expand our operations in Romania - an 18 mln people market.

At this point, we are crowdfunding and we need 250,000 Euros for an 11,11% stake. The funds will be used as follows:

Legal & Regulatory - 53%
Talents - 22%
Technology - 19%
Marketing - 6%