CrowdedHero is a regulated equity crowdfunding platform that takes a different approach compared to what we have seen in the industry so far, moving away from just blindly investing in startups to focus on a handful of quality growing companies, with clearly positive financial fundamentals and the commitment to distribute dividends in what is without a doubt, an attractive concept probably worth exploring by any crowd investor.
In this review, we bring you all our opinions and experiences as early users of the platform, don’t miss it!
PLATFORM
CROWDEDHERO
TYPE
Crowdequity
COUNTRY
Latvia
START OF OPERATIONS
2019
AVERAGE NET PROFITABILITY
20% per year (estimated)
AVERAGE TERM
Several years
MINIMUM INVESTMENT
100 euros
DEPOSITS AND WITHDRAWALS
Bank Transfer, Bank Card
REGULATED?
YES
AUTOINVEST?
NO
SECONDARY MARKET?
Functionality Present, will be implemented in the future
SIGN-UP BONUS?
NO
OVERALL RATING
MORE INFORMATION
CrowdedHero Review – Critical Performance Metrics Opinion & Analysis – Hexastar Chart
RETURN: Being Crowdedhero an Equity Crowdfunding platform, without a doubt one of its strengths is the potential returns that we can obtain with it. Unlike other crowdequity platforms focused on startups with a very high potential return but also a very high risk, in the case at hand, CrowdedHero focuses on growing companies, yes, with great potential, yes, but with solid financial metrics. . According to the estimation made by platform management, it is estimated that for every 5 companies funded in the marketplace, 3 will get an exit doubling their value in the next 5 years, which would give us an annual return of 20% for our portfolio, which is without a doubt in one of the highest tiers among the crowd sector in Europe.
SAFETY / RISK: Investments in crowdequity, as a counterpart to their very high potential profitability, usually have an implicit risk that is also very high. Obviously at CrowdedHero, that investment risk is still there, but again, thanks to its focus on strong growing companies, the return/risk curve tends to be in a lower risk tier – probably sacrificing some maximum potential return – compared to other platforms such as pure equity crowdfunding platforms focused on startups like Crowdcube, Seedrs, etc.
DIVERSIFICATION: Despite the fact that CrowdedHero is a platform still in its early stages, with a limited volume of projects, and therefore with a relatively low internal diversification, the external diversification that it can provide to our portfolio is more quite ample given that crowd equity is usually an underweight asset in many portfolios, and more specifically the crowd equity of mature companies with the potential to generate periodic dividends is a very rare asset class that this platform will allow us to incorporate into our portfolio with ease.
LIQUIDITY: Although equity crowdfunding investments are inherently illiquid (often you have to wait several years for the companies we invest in to exit), CrowdedHero will have a secondary market bulletin board feature, which will be an important liquidity tool that will allow users interested in selling to be put in contact with potential buyers. In addition, the orientation of the platform towards the publication of opportunities capable of generating recurring dividends provides an additional source of liquidity that is not insignificant, which also adds up when evaluating this aspect.
FUNCTIONALITY: The Crowdedhero interface presents a simple and friendly interface, very much in line with the crowdlending and P2P loan websites that we are used to, and with all the information and functions within the reach of just a few clicks.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: CrowdedHero is a platform that stands out for the quality of the team behind it, and this can be seen specifically in an area as important as Customer Service. The quality of interactions and the degree of detail in the answers to all the questions that we have raised as users to the platform team is outstanding.
Is CrowdedHero Reliable or Not – Due Diligence Findings
*SIA “CrowdedHero Latvia” is a company registered in Latvia with registration number 50203309441 and registered office at 58A – 8 Bauskas Street, Riga, LV-1004, Latvia
*The company has pre-approval as a crowdfunding platform by the competent authority, in this case the FCMC (Financial and Capital Market Commission) of Latvia and the final license within the new European regulatory framework will be issued in the coming months.
*In 2019, Estonia-based CrowdedHero OU was created as the Holding Company of SIA CrowdedHero Latvia, which is the Latvian-based company that operates the platform.
*CrowdedHero has Lemonway as a payment entity partner, approved by the ACPR in France since December 24, 2012 and with registration number 16568.
*CrowdedHero is one of the founding members of the Latvian Crowdfunding Association, which aims to, among others, promote transparency and good governance in the crowdfunding industry as a whole and adopt a code of good crowdfunding practices for all platforms and industry professionals.
*According to the data provider Lursoft.lv, the company has almost a quarter of a million euros of share capital, with a very solid capitalization, well above the average of the crowd sector in Europe.
Conclusion – CrowdedHero P2P Crowdfunding Review
CrowdedHero brings to the table a unique value proposition that many crowd investors have been waiting for a long time: a formula that allows us to access the enormous potential of equity investments in growing companies, with a very favorable approach for the investor -including the focus in companies with positive balance, dividend distribution commitments and an emphasis on exit from the outset – which eases many of the barriers that these investments have and which, added to its low minimum investment, probably makes it a very good option worth exploring.
Advantages of CrowdedHero – Main Strengths
1) Access to interesting equity crowdfunding opportunities like we have never seen before in other leading platforms in the sector, with a focus on profitable companies, generating dividends and working towards the viable exit of the business, thus putting the interests of the platform fully in line with ours as investors.
2) Very interesting accessibility / quality of life functions for the investor, such as a very affordable minimum investment (100 euros) and secondary market implementation in the pipeline.
3) Serious, trustworthy platform, regulated by the FCMC, with segregated accounts with Lemonway and meeting all the requirements of the new regulations from the first minute of operation. Founding member of the Crowdfunding Association of Latvia.
4) Extraordinary human team behind the platform, with a superlative level of service and customer care.
Weaknesses and Aspects to improve
1) Despite the interesting approach of the platform, the long-term performance of its operations remains to be evaluated in the long term.
How to Start Investing with CrowdedHero
If you are interested in starting to invest in CrowdedHero, one of the things that probably catches your attention is the KYC and onboarding process that they ask you to complete before you start investing.
Don’t worry! It may seem like a long procedure, but although it is a little more extensive than that of a standard crowdlending platform, it is designed to meet all the regulatory requirements that this type of platform has and to guarantee the adequacy of the investment to our user profile. The truth is that in little more than 10 minutes we can finish it (and I say this from my own experience)
The steps we will need to follow to complete our registration include:
- KYC (Know Your Customer procedure) standard today in the vast majority of crowd investment platforms, with the particularity that we will have to present 2 documents, such as our passport and our national ID.
- Investor class declaration: Choosing between “sophisticated” or “unsophisticated”: a non-sophisticated investor, like most of us, small investors, has a series of advantages such as greater protection, right of withdrawal of the investment the first 14 days, etc.
- Knowledge test: These are not complicated questions at all, but they do allow us to measure the adequacy of this type of investment to our investor profile.
- Simulation. In the final phase and by legal requirement, they will simply guide us to calculate the maximum loss that can be assumed based on a series of personal financial parameters that we must provide.
That said, it may seem like a series of very long tasks, but in practice, if we get down to it, in 10-15 minutes we can have everything done and we can start investing after verification by the platform managers.
The Team behind the Platform
The platform was founded by business partners Janis Blazevics and Sandris Rügums .
Janis, as an expert in the banking industry, has poured all her knowledge of investment products, the provision of financial services and her extensive understanding of the wishes and interests of investors into the creation of the CrowdedHero Business Model.
The other founder of CrowdedHero is Sandris Rügums, who runs the consultancy firm Eventus and deals daily with business acquisitions and mergers, management of buy/sell transactions, and advising clients on corporate and financial issues.
Without a doubt, a duo with the ideal context and background to launch this platform, complemented by an excellent team of professionals.
CrowdedHero Forum
Do you want to have a space to comment and share your doubts and experiences about this Latvian crowdfunding platform?… Look no further! Below we have enabled the CrowdedHero Forum so you can express yourself and ask freely… Write us your comment!