Viktorija Čijunskytė is Redefining the Real Estate Market of Lithuania with her Crowdfunding Solutions.

Fintech Women

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Profitus

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.

Viktorija Čijunskytė

“We also have disabled members on the team, who are an extremely important part of our superhero team (that is what I call my team). All team members, interns, and investor community members who have contributed to our activities are an integral part of this business. After all, this is called CROWD-funding”

Empowering the Citizens

“Financial literacy in Lithuania has been a sensitive issue for a long time. The emergence of fintech has enabled us to develop new financial tools and solutions and enable everyone to become a part of it,” shares Viktorija. The Profitus team has been involved in some of the most groundbreaking initiatives aimed at educating the Lithuanian population regarding financial literacy and technology. “We create content, organize free training and meetings for the community on finance. We regularly invite external experts who share their knowledge covering real estate, property valuation, personal or family finance, investing in other asset classes, and law.”  

Profitus is also extremely open about providing internships to young people and is boldly involved in student research on crowdfunding. “We also have disabled members on the team, who are an extremely important part of our superhero team (that is what I call my team). All team members, interns, and investor community members who have contributed to our activities are an integral part of this business. After all, this is called CROWD-funding,” smiles Viktorija.

In recent times during the Covid-19 outbreak, Profitus was yet again seen on the frontlines of their country as the first platform in Lithuania to assist the physicians and provide medical institutions with the necessary protection measures. With this initiative, the company was able to raise essential funds and contribute to enforcing Lithuania’s medical defenses against the virus.

Ahead of the Curve

For Viktorija, work started at a young age. Over time she developed strong discipline, time planning skills, and problem-solving abilities, but she says that the core of all her values stems from her family. 

After all these years, Viktorija is still an active part of an assortment of real estate, finance, and technology-based events and conferences. She utilizes these to increase her strategic skill-set, expand her network and stay up to date with the latest developments in the industry. “I strive to regularly participate in events and conferences that touch this field or any near topic. Also, I am a member of the board of the crowdfunding association and I work closely with the entire fintech community in Lithuania,” says she.

In her free time, Viktorija can be found outdoors, either on the tennis court or seeking adventure, kite surfing around the beach. “Frankly, there are probably no activities I wouldn’t have tried or intend to try in the future. I am fascinated by all active and extreme activities.” Not to mention, she also has a fascination for Friedrich Nietzsche with whom, if, given the chance, she would very much enjoy a meal. “It would be really interesting to know someone with such unconventional thinking, he was also crazy about his talent, and of course it would be interesting to discuss his phrase: “If you know the why you can live anyhow,” says Viktorija.

Innovation and Transformation

With the speedy evolution in technology and artificial intelligence, further change and disruption in the fintech sector are inevitable. The team at Profitus however, remains committed to creating newer, more advanced innovations for their customers and clients. “Also, we have started our expansion to new markets from the business financing side and launched a new market – Latvia. We have already financed our first project there,” shares Viktorija.

Looking at Profitus’ growth rates, the company is poised for certain development. With plans in the pipeline to expand to three new markets in a year, Viktorija Čijunskytė and her team of fintech experts are just getting started.