Today, one of the widely accepted and globally utilized techniques of borrowing, lending, and investing funds in a secure environment, is Crowdfunding. A safe, strategic and high-yielding investment avenue, crowdfunding is an online technique used to raise capital for businesses and a convenient way for investors to access new ventures. While Crowdfunding as a system can be used to fund and invest in a myriad of possibilities, right from gathering funds for a business to raising funds for a road trip, one segment remains more organized and lucrative than all others – Real Estate Crowdfunding. 

Real estate crowdfunding is the process of getting a pool of investors to raise capital for a real estate project. It is a way for real estate investors to obtain the funding they need to flip a home, buy a property, or anything else. On the other side of the equation, this type of crowdfunding offers non-professional investors the opportunity to invest in real estate with less risk than financing a project and more returns than a bank.  

Driven by a team of some of the best financial and real estate professionals in the country, Crowdfunding Platform – Profitus, has been dominating the real estate crowdfunding space of Lithuania since its inception in 2018. Spearheaded by the Founder, CEO, and Chair of the Board, Viktorija Čijunskytė, this digital platform is on the mission to become a leader in the International online investment space.

Property-Backed Investments

Profitus is a leading Lithuanian fin-tech platform, designed to act as a digital arbitrator for all parties involved in the practice of real-estate investments. The platform also provides business loans to small and medium-sized businesses to assist them with working capital, business development, new equipment, acquisition of assets from auctions, and more. 

The team at Profitus comprises financial and real estate experts who evaluate borrowers and analyze projects. They then determine the risk rating and set the conditions under which the projects are announced for public funding. 

The platform is also designed to supervise and administer financing and settlement processes with investors, manage documents, and represent investors to ensure that their interests are met with the highest standards. Furthermore, in every case, the invested funds are secured by a primary real estate mortgage.

A Decade in Real Estate

The real estate business has been a part of Viktorija’s life for over 12 years now. She along with her partner started by establishing their agency back in the day, which eventually evolved into a real estate development company. Over time the partners’ network grew and their services became the talk of the town for anyone looking to invest in property.

“Having been in this business for many years, I was surrounded by a very large circle of people interested in real estate – who kept asking about the possibility of investing their money in real estate. To keep money in banks is not a viable solution because nowadays banks do not pay interest and investment in shares, and with no specific knowledge of this area, it is very risky.” 

Although real estate has always been a tangible commodity, over the last few years it has gone through unprecedented evolution. Just a few years ago in 2015, Viktorija remembers how she was at MIPIM, Cannes, a real estate conference exhibition. This is where she was first introduced to the concept of crowdfunding. 

Quickly understanding its benefits to the real estate sector, Viktorija came up with the idea to create an apartment rental fund – to buy 100 apartments and share the rent with investors. With the success of this first venture, she soon moved from financing apartments to financing large real estate projects and has never looked back since!

Today, not only is Viktorija admired professional in the global fintech industry but as a top-notch woman in business she is also the role model to many young women in her country. To achieve greatness, she feels that one has to look past orthodox prejudices and only focus on their goals. “I think that the division of men and women is our own invention. Of course, there are situations where I am the only woman in a serious meeting. But I don’t feel otherwise about it. I strongly believe that if you go and show that you know what you are doing, no one cares if you are a man or a woman,” says she.