Posted by Since the change of ownership in August 2023, Debitum Investments has significantly raised its profile and attractiveness. Among the key changes were the reintroduction of the Auto Invest feature, onboarding new lenders, as well as higher interest rates and more liquidity.
During my visit to Riga in June 2024, I had the opportunity to personally exchange views with Debitum’s CEO and shareholder, Eriks Rengitis, and to see the positive development of Debitum on-site. I have also resumed my personal investment in Debitum since then.
A central component in the positive development has been the lender Sandbox Funding. The concept behind the Debitum-associated lender is as innovative (rapid testing of new lenders and saving onboarding resources) as it is to question critically (lack of transparency and black-box nature).
Today, we dive into the details and the background story of Sandbox Funding. This includes, among other things, a look at its history, functionality, and the risks of the lender.
A complete analysis of the Latvian P2P platform can be found in my Debitum review.
What is Sandbox Funding?
Let’s start from the very beginning. What is Sandbox Funding?
Sandbox Funding is a lender based in Latvia, founded on March 30, 2023.
With Sandbox Funding, investors can invest in business loans from companies that are not yet listed as independent lenders on Debitum.
A look at the numbers highlights the importance of Sandbox for Debitum. At the end of January 2025, the outstanding loan portfolio on Debitum has been EUR 29.2 million. Of this, EUR 21.8 million were attributed to Sandbox Funding, which accounts for nearly 75%.
This makes Sandbox Funding by far the largest and most important lender on Debitum.
Origin Story
Why was Sandbox Funding founded?
If this question could be answered in only one word, it would be speed.
Since September 2021, Debitum has been an Investment Brokerage Firm (IBF), regulated under MiFID II and supervised by the Latvian Financial Supervisory Authority. As a result, extensive prospectuses must be submitted if the platform wants to issue securities from new lenders.
The resources that are required for this procedure are the reason why Debitum is often unable to seize many market opportunities.
It’s important to note that Debitum CEO Eriks Rengitis has a very strong network in Latvia, built on his years of experience in the M&A sector. When financing opportunities arise quickly, even on a smaller scale, Debitum often cannot act with the necessary speed due to regulatory constraints, making it difficult to take advantage of certain opportunities.
For this reason, Sandbox Funding was created as a vehicle to enable quicker access to attractive market opportunities.
Ownership
A look at the Latvian company register reveals that Sandbox Funding is owned by the two current Debitum shareholders. The shareholder split is almost identical.
66.85% are owned by the company “ZIdea,” which is 100% controlled by the Latvian Ingus Salmins. The remaining 33.15% belong to the company “Amplo,” which, in turn, is 100% owned by the Latvian and Debitum CEO, Eriks Rengitis.
How Does Sandbox Funding Work?
Let’s take a closer look at how Sandbox Funding works.
Basically, all new companies that are interested in using the Debitum platform as a source of funding are tested through Sandbox Funding.
“1 in 10 companies make it through the screening process.”
Apart from the standardized creditworthiness checks, collateral is collected from the borrower, and Sandbox Funding itself forms a 10% equity stake (skin in the game).
The prospectuses submitted by Debitum can only amount to a maximum of EUR 8 million for individual lenders. Once this limit is reached, new prospectuses need to be created.
Upon my inquiry, I learned that there are both internal and legal limits for financing individual lenders within Sandbox. This limit is set at EUR 5 million.
Initially, the financing amount is much smaller, with some figures mentioned in the range of several hundred thousand euros.
It is also worth mentioning that all assets from Sandbox Funding are covered by a buyback guarantee. Since the owners of Sandbox Funding are the same as the Debitum shareholders, they are personally backing up these assets with their own funds.
Lender Transition
Sandbox Funding offers Debitum the opportunity to initially engage with companies and assess their repayment behavior on a smaller scale before they appear as independent lenders on the P2P marketplace.
A major and important advantage for the P2P platform, which can save a lot of time and resources initially.
During the first collaboration via Sandbox Funding, Debitum looks at the following aspects:
- Financial performance of the underlying borrower
- Willingness to create a prospectus, which must be submitted to the regulator
- General cooperation discipline, including reporting, timely repayments, and communication
- Evaluation of trustworthiness based on the internal risk assessment methodology
There is no fixed time frame for the transition of becoming an independent lender, as it depends on the financial strength of the borrower, the results of the risk assessment, and the funding goals.
Juno by Sandbox Funding?
Juno and Foresto are two lenders that initially went through the path of Sandbox Funding before eventually being added as independent lenders.
Given this background, some may wonder why they see assets on the P2P platform listed under titles like “Juno by Sandbox Funding” or “Foresto by Sandbox Funding.”
As I have learned, this is also due to regulatory reasons and restrictions.
Juno AS and Foresto SIA were initially introduced by Debitum as bond issuers. After an examination, the Latvian regulatory authority approved the issuance of short-term bonds with a total value of EUR 1 million per company, which were subsequently fully funded.
Since creating a full prospectus would have been time-consuming for both Debitum and the affected borrowers, it was decided to raise the funds under the existing prospectus of Sandbox Funding.
Currently, Debitum is working with the regulatory authority to move forward with the completion of two additional new prospectuses. Therefore, it should soon be possible for Juno AS and Foresto SIA to be offered as independent borrowers with their own prospectuses.
Transparency
In some cases, Sandbox Funding is also referred to as “Blackbox Funding.” So, how transparent is the Debitum lender really?
Upon my inquiry, I was informed that currently, six companies operate within the Sandbox Funding structure. All borrowers come from Latvia, the domestic market of the P2P platform.
These companies are represented in all core industries, including the energy sector, construction, and SME financing.
Further information about the lender can be gathered via the Sandbox Funding website. The requirements to obtain financing through Sandbox Funding include:
- A minimum turnover of EUR 100,000
- At least 3 months of operational activity
- A location within the EU/EEA
- A credit rating of C+ or better
- Proof of a commercial pledge and/or a mortgage as collateral
The loan terms can range from 3 to 72 months. The minimum loan amount is EUR 5,000, while theoretically, there is no upper limit.
Recently, Debitum has also shared some numbers from Sandbox Funding. By the end of 2024, a total of EUR 28.5 million had been financed through Sandbox, with EUR 1.2 million in interest and EUR 10.5 million in principal already returned. The average interest rate was 13.21% p.a., which is a very competitive return in the current market environment.
Financial Performance
The financial performance should also be considered as part of the transparency debate. So, how strong is the financial position of Sandbox Funding?
Through a publicly accessible register, financial indicators can be tracked. According to this source, in 2023, Sandbox achieved a revenue of EUR 131,000 and incurred a loss of around EUR 25,000.
However, reports are also regularly published on the lender page of Debitum. The last official report covers the period from September 2023 to September 2024.
During this period, revenue was EUR 447,000, with a profit of EUR 52,000. The equity position is therefore back in the positive, with approximately EUR 30,000. However, since this is not an externally audited or verified report, the figures should be acknowledged but not overemphasized.
Nevertheless, it is likely that the full-year report for 2024 will present a positive outlook.
Is Sandbox Funding Safe?
In its nearly two-year history, there have been no repayment difficulties or delays at Sandbox Funding. Accordingly, defaults have amounted to EUR 0 so far.
However, Debitum has openly communicated that issues can still arise. For example, SIA Power Capital, one of the borrowers under the Sandbox Funding umbrella, had trouble making the repayments on a EUR 2.2 million loan due to a restructuring of the loan.
Sandbox Funding stepped in and fulfilled the buyback obligation on behalf of the borrower—with its own funds. The lender has since repaid parts of its liabilities.
When asked, Debitum commented that no other issues have been reported aside from the aforementioned borrower.
Summary and Opinion
Sandbox Funding operates with an innovative and exciting lender concept that perfectly fits Debitum’s business needs.
On one hand, Debitum, through Sandbox Funding, has the ability to quickly respond to market financing requests that would otherwise be difficult to realize within the official regulatory process.
On the other hand, the vehicle offers an excellent opportunity to start small-scale partnerships that can later evolve into independent lenders on the P2P marketplace (like Juno or Foresto).
From an investor’s perspective, this approach requires a certain level of trust, as it is often not possible to fully assess which assets are being financed. As such, there remains an element of intransparency, although Debitum has granted many insights into Sandbox Funding upon request.
It is also worth considering how borrower payments can be covered if larger-scale defaults occur. This is a challenge one must address with any lender though.
Since it is clear from the outset that the lender is owned by the Debitum shareholders, it also underscores how seriously they must take the success of Sandbox Funding.