Viainvest Review 2024: Up to 13% on Regulated P2P Platform!

With a track record since 2016, Viainvest is one of the more established platforms in the P2P environment. Yet, Viainvest is somewhat flying under the radar of many investors, due to a rather passive communication and marketing approach. This makes Viainvest a calm and reliable investment, especially in good times.

No defaults, no repayment delays and competitive interest rates are the reason why I have been able to consistently achieve a return above 10% on Viainvest since 2018. This corresponds to a continuous reliability that not many other P2P platforms can match.

Nevertheless, the platform is not without its flaws and certain peculiarities that investors need to get used to. In particular, the switch to a regulated P2P platform has exposed certain problem areas. In this Viainvest review, I will reveal how serious these problems actually are and why it is still worth investing with the Latvian-based P2P lending platform.

All the information that are covered in this Viainvest review are based on my own personal experiences with the platform for the past years. Please make sure to do your own due diligence before investing on Viainvest or any other platform. More information can be found in the Disclaimer.

Further analyses of other platforms can be found on my P2P Platform Review page.

Summary

Before we get started, here is a quick summary with the most important information about Viainvest.

• Viainvest is a Latvian P2P platform on which investors can invest in buyback-guaranteed consumer loans, while generate a return of up to 13%. The operational launch of the platform took place in December 2016.
• The platform belongs to the VIA SMS Group. This is a fintech company that has been established in 2009, offering a range of other financial services in addition to Viainvest.
• The platform is operated by SIA Viainvest, which has been controlled by the financial supervisory authority in Latvia since 2021 and is regulated in accordance with MiFID II. As a result, investors’ accounts are protected against misuse of funds or insolvency of the platform with up to EUR 20,000 by the investor compensation system.
• Viainvest is not only one of the oldest P2P platforms in Europe, but also one of the most popular alternatives among private investors. In the past four years, Viainvest has never been ranked lower than ninth in the P2P Community Voting, while in two years it even managed third place.

About Viainvest

Viainvest is a regulated P2P platform from Latvia where investors can benefit from a variety of international short-term consumer loans, while earning a return of up to 13%.

The platform is part of the Latvian VIA SMS Group, a holding company that was founded in 2009. The group offers a range of different financial products and services. In addition to Viainvest and the expanding lending operations, this also includes the digital payment platform VIALET. Over the past decade, the Group has managed to build and establish a profitable business model in one of the most strictly regulated loan segments.

Since September 2021, the platform is supervised and controlled by the financial authority in Latvia and regulated in accordance with MiFID II. This means that investors’ accounts of up to EUR 20,000 are protected against misappropriation or insolvency of the platform by the investor compensation system.

The popularity of the Viainvest platform is regularly reflected within the annual community voting. One reason for this is that Viainvest – despite some inconsistencies in the past – has always made reliable repayments and has not yet incurred any losses for investors.

Ownership and Management

Who are the main shareholders and management executives behind Viainvest? Let’s have a look!

Viainvest Ownership

Who owns Viainvest? The platform is operated by the Latvian “SIA Viainvest”, which in turn is owned by the Latvian company AS VIA SMS Group. A look at the Latvian company register reveals that the parent company is currently owned by two shareholders:

• 80% of the shares belong to “RED HOLDING”, which is owned by the Latvian Georgijs Krasovickis.
• 20% of the shares belong to “Financial Investment”, which is owned by the Latvian Andris Riekstins.

Georgijs Krasovickis is one of the founding members of the company. At the same time, he is also obtaining one of three board member roles. Behind “SIA Financial Investment” is the 52-year-old Latvian Andris Riekstins. He ownes 20% of the shares in the company since 2012.

Viainvest Management

SIA Viainvest has a slightly different corporate structure to many other P2P platforms. Instead of a traditional CEO, there are three Supervisory Board members. Chairman of the board is Latvian Eduards Lapkovskis. He has been working for the VIA SMS Group since March 2010.

Investors can look at the other team members on the website of the Viainvest platform.

Business Model and Finances

Throughout the process of due diligence, investors should also have a look at the business model of a P2P platform as well as the overall financial situation. How does the company earn money? Does the platform operate profitably? And how well is the company positioned financially? In the following paragraphs of this Viainvest review, you can follow-up on those questions.

Monetization

How does Viainvest earn money? Since the VIA SMS Group has a broad portfolio of products and services, the company generates income through multiple revenue sources. However, there are a two dominant revenue sources that can be found when reviewing the latest financial report.

The biggest income stream is generated by the commission fee (58%) which derives from the lending operations. In this regard the company was able to generate EUR 22.1 million in 2022. The second biggest income source comes from online banking fees which in turn is related to the VIALET digital payment platform.

Other revenue sources include credit renewal fees, late payment penalties, or restructuring commissions.

Profitability

Is Viainvest profitable? The company has been able to generate solid profits for many years. However, after the outbreak of the pandemic, the company struggled to break even again. The audited annual report for 2021 showed a loss of EUR 2.5 million, which was the worst financial result in the history of the VIA SMS Group.

However, 2022 saw the best result in the company’s history, with a profit of EUR 4.1 million.

Balance Sheet

After a difficult year in 2021, in which the poor KPIs were due in particular to an extraordinary dividend payment (EUR 2.7 million) and the loss for the 2021 reporting period (EUR 2.5 million), the balance sheet looks much better at the end of 2022.

Sign Up and Bonus

To invest on Viainvest, investors must meet three requirements:

• A minimum age of 18 years,
• a residence in the European Economic Area
• and a European bank account.

The registration process at Viainvest is fairly simple and intuitive.

• Entering the profile information (including name, email, password)
• Entering personal information (e.g. address, date of birth, ID card details)
• AML & KYC questionnaires
• Final verification of identity (via Veriff)

Currently, legal entities can’t register on Viainvest.

Viainvest Bonus

If you consider investing on Viainvest, a sign up through this link will enable you to get a cashback bonus of 1% in the first 90 days after registration.

Investing on Viainvest

How does Viainvest work and what should investors know and consider when investing on the plaform? In the following sections of my Viainvest review you will find all the necessary information that you need.

Asset-Backed Securities

On 28 September 2021, Viainvest obtained an IBF licence and became a regulated platform by the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC). As a result, investors no longer invest in loans structured in the form of assignment agreements, but in a regulated financial product, in short: ABS (asset-backed securities). This is a combined bundle of several individual loans. However, the default risk remains unchanged.

Loan Offering

The ABS on Viainvest are primarily private and unsecured consumer loans. These are pre-funded by individual non-bank lenders affiliated with the VIA SMS Group.

The borrower countries are mainly located in Europe. These include Latvia, Sweden, Czech Republic and Romania. The outstanding portfolio on Viainvest is currently distributed as follows:

• Latvia: 69.11% (viasms.lv)
• Sweden: 24.53% (viaconto.se)
• Czech Republic: 5.14% (viasms.cz)
• Romania: 1.22% (viaconto.ro)

The term of the loans is usually up to 182 days. In some cases, the term can also be up to 365 days. Viainvest does not have a monthly deposit limit, as is the case with Bondora Go & Grow, for example.

Costs and Fees

There are no fees or hidden costs for retail investors on Viainvest. Neither for deposits or withdrawals, nor for the functionalities when investing on the platform. Compared to many other P2P lending platforms, this is unfortunately not the standard anymore.

Expected Returns

The interest rates on Viainvest can vary depending on the borrower country and market phase. In general, interest rates range between 10% and 13%. This can be considered a competitive interest rate appropriate to the underlying risk.

Based on my Viainvest experiences as an active investor, I can confirm the reliable return expectation in the double-digit percentage range.

My personal return on Viainvest, after 5+ years with the platform, is at 11.16%.

Auto Invest

Investors can invest in ABS either manually or via Auto Invest functionality. Within the auto invest feature, certain investment criteria can be defined in advance and later on the returns are automatically reinvested.

The Viainvest Auto Invest allows the following settings to be configured:

• Minimum investment amount: From EUR 50
• Interest rate: Up to 13%
• Loan term: Up to 365 days
• Borrower countries: Latvia, Sweden, Czech Republic, Romania 
• Buyback guarantee: Automatically applied

There is currently no secondary market at Viainvest. This means that the loans cannot be sold before the end of the term.

However, due to the short loan terms, a secondary market is only necessary to a limited extent.

Buyback Guarantee

Also Viainvest is offering the frequently used buyback guarantee. As soon as a borrower fails to make a payment on time, the lender is obliged to buy back the loan after 60 days of delayed repayments.

The buyback guarantee covers both the capital and the accrued interest. To date, Viainvest has always honored this obligation.

Viainvest Forum

If you have questions about Viainvest, other platforms or different p2p-related topics, you can join the re:think P2P Community on Facebook and engage in discussions with more than 1,000 other private retail investors.

Alternatively, you can get the latest Viainvest news and updates via my channels on Telegram or WhatsApp.

Viainvest Taxes

In principle, interest income generated by loan financing is considered investment income and must be reported as such in the tax declaration. After obtaining the investment brokerage firm license in 2021, Viainvest is now legally required to also withhold taxes on interest income that is collected through regulated financial instruments.

The applied tax rate is based on the country of tax residency and the tax information that are submitted.

• 20% for investors from Latvia
• 20% for investors outside the EU or EEA
• 5% for investors with residency in the EU or EEA (except Latvia)
• 0% for investors from Lithuania (tax certificate required)
• 0% for legal entities

When paying taxes in your country of residence, the withheld taxes can usually be deducted from the overall balance. This means that the effective taxation rate will be the same as it has been before when investing into claim rights. To get access to the relevant data, Viainvest offers to download tax reports and income statements from the platform.

Viainvest Risks

Investors should look very carefully at the potential risk factors when evaluating a P2P platform. What is it that investors need to be aware of when it comes to Viainvest? Where are the underlying risks and how can they be assessed?

Platform Risk

The platform, operated by SIA Viainvest, obtained an investment brokerage licence issued by the Latvian Central Bank in September 2021. As a result, the platform is subject to the requirements of the MiFID II Financial Markets Directive.

As a result, investors’ accounts are protected by the investor compensation system in Latvia with up to EUR 20,000 in the event of the platform’s insolvency or misappropriation of investor funds. Possible defaults by lenders are not covered though.

Due to regulation, Viainvest is obliged to regularly prepare audited annual financial statements. However, these have always been published even before regulation.

As one of the few Latvian platforms, the transition process to a regulated business unit has also uncovered some problems and weaknesses at Viainvest:

• For a long time, the account balances did not reflect the actual value of the investment.
• The buyback guarantee, which could have been initiated after 120 days for the credit lines, was cancelled retroactively. As a result, these can now be extended indefinitely.
• Auto Invest settings have been switched, without investor consent, to investments in asset-backed securities with a maturity of 180 days.

Viainvest also failed to comply with certain requirements from the Latvian regulator, so the company received a fine of EUR 21,000 in addition to other conditions. 

Lender Risk

Even if the platform operates in a supposedly safe environment, the expected return on Viainvest is largely dependent on the performance of the individual lenders. How should this risk be assessed?

First of all, you should know that all lenders on Viainvest belong to its own parent company, the VIA SMS Group. Having no external lenders to deal with means a significantly bigger control that can be exercised with regard to the risk management of the lenders.

To date, there have been no problems with lenders where outstanding receivables could not be serviced. As Viainvest operates in the PayDay loan market, which is one of the most restricted and regulated loan segments, this is a positive sign in terms of the platform’s risk management.

If a loan by the lender defaults, the buy-back guarantee is then triggered. In this case, the outstanding receivables are reimbursed by the lender, including accrued interest. If the lender has difficulties servicing those receivables, the VIA SMS parent company steps in.

Only if repayment problems arise at this stage, potential losses might happen to investors. This is why it is so crucial to take a close look at the financial situation of the guarantee issuer when analysing the risk.

Viainvest in Crisis Situations

In the recent past, P2P platforms have had to overcome several crisis situations. These included the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. How did Viainvest deal with these situations?

Covid-19 Pandemic

Viainvest reacted very calmly after the outbreak of the pandemic. Internally, only around 10% of employees had to be laid off. Because Viainvest had already pursued a conservative growth strategy for years in the past, there were far fewer adjustments and changes than with other P2P platforms.

On a positive note, it should be emphasised that there were no negative effects for investors. The buyback guarantee was honoured at all times, as were the payout requests, which were processed immediately. In addition, no moratoria or changes to the terms of use were introduced that would have had a negative impact on investors’ interests. Compared to other competitors, Viainvest performed as promised in advance.

Economically though, the pandemic has left its mark on Viainvest. Although the turnover has slightly increased, expenses have risen at a much faster pace. After seven consecutive years of profitable business results, the company concluded a loss of EUR 280,000 in 2020.

War in Ukraine

At first glance, the war in Ukraine has not had a direct impact on Viainvest, as the platform’s lending markets are located only in Europe. The decision not to be active in the CIS markets was made on purpose in order to avoid geopolitical risks or strong currency fluctuations.

But even if the lending markets are not directly affected by the war in Ukraine, the economic consequences of the war may be felt in the Baltic States as well. In this regard, Viainvest is watching the situation in Ukraine very closely.

Is Viainvest a Safe P2P Platform?

Viainvest is an established and at the same time crisis-tested platform that has proven to be safe and reliable in the past. Another advantage is that Viainvest has been operating as a regulated P2P platform since 2021 and is therefore subject to supervision by a financial authority.

The financial strength of the parent company is also a major advantage in terms of safety. In addition, audited annual reports have been published regularly since 2012 to provide information on the company’s financial situation. Viainvest can therefore be considered as a safe P2P platform.

In the past, I have visited the Viainvest team in Riga several times and exchanged ideas with the platform’s key decision-makers. The first meeting took place in April 2019, while the last visit happened in June 2024.

At my latest visit, I exchanged thoughts with the Viainvest team, in particular with supervisory board member Tatjana Kulapina. The whole Viainvest team made a knowledgable and reliable impression on me in both meetings.

Advantages and Disadvantages

In this section, I have listed the biggest advantages and disadvantages of Viainvest.

Advantages

• Track Record: Viainvest has gathered market experiences since the operational launch in 2016.
• VIA SMS Group: The parent company is an established and profitable company since 2009.
• Regulation: The platform is regulated by the Latvian Financial Supervision Authority since 2021.
• Transparency: The audited annual financial statements are published regularly.
• Crisis-Tested: The platform has weathered every crisis to date without any major side effects.
• Auto Invest: Investors can make automated investments in the assets on the platform.
• Expected Returns: Reliable returns of at least 10% for many years in the past.

Disadvantages

• Transparency: No daily updated data on the performance of the lenders.
• Secondary Market: No possibility to sell loans prior maturity.
• Terms and Conditions: The platform can make immediate changes to the terms and conditions without investor consensus.

Viainvest Alternatives

Are you already an investor on Viainvest? Which alternatives could then be considered?

Looking at Viainvest’s profile, the platform can best be compared with the Latvian alternative Twino. This platform shares the most common aspects in terms of history, origin story, loan offering and business model. Both platforms have already set up a joint venture in the past to start lending operations in Vietnam.

Additional Viainvest alternatives would be Debitum Investments or the Latvian market leader Mintos.

Twino

Twino has very strong overlaps with Viainvest. Firstly due to their history: both the parent companies of the two platforms and the establishment of the P2P platform itself took place within a year of each other. Secondly, both are P2P platforms based and regulated in Latvia, with a similar focus on unsecured consumer loans, although Twino has recently focused much more on property investments. Additional information can be found in my Twino review.

Debitum Investments

Debitum Investments (formerly Debitum Network) is a P2P marketplace based in Latvia and regulated by the local financial supervisory authority. What makes Debitum special is its unique positioning in the P2P lending environment, as it is regulated, follows a marketplace model and offers buyback-secured business loans. A combination that cannot be found in this particular form on any other P2P platform. Additional information can be found in my Debitum review.

Mintos

With EUR 600+ million in investor assets under management and more than 500,000 registered users, Mintos is the largest P2P lending platform in Europe. In addition to a wide range of loans, the Latvian P2P marketplace also offers other asset classes. These include ETFs, bonds or real estate. Additional information can be found in my Mintos review.

You can find other Viainvest alternatives on the P2P Platform Comparison page.

Community Feedback

Viainvest is an above-average rated P2P lending platform among many investors. This is impressively illustrated by the results of the annual P2P community votings, where Viainvest is always in the top third of the most popular P2P platforms.

In 2021, Viainvest achieved a score of 3.56 points (3rd place; 93 ratings), in 2022 it was 3.50 points (5th place; 52 ratings) and in 2023 it was 3.36 points (9th place; 66 ratings). In 2024, Viainvest found its way back onto the podium (3rd place) with 3.55 points and 143 ratings.

The only P2P platforms achieving an even better score in 2024 have been Robocash and Profitus. The ratings are based on my P2P Community Voting 2024.

Summary Viainvest Review 2024

What is the final verdict of my Viainvest review?

Viainvest is an established and mature P2P platform from Latvia that has started operations in 2016, while being a regulated entity since 2022. 

The positive aspects of Viainvest are its long track record, the transparency applied in most areas, its financial stability and reliable repayments, which have enabled investors to achieve double-digit returns every year.

In addition, there are rarely any complications or problem cases. Viainvest generally delivers what was promised in advance.

Some events during the transition period of becoming a regulated P2P platform have shown that Viainvest can also experience disruptions. The resources required to reorganise the platform’s IT were simply poorly deployed. However, these are only minor glitches in an otherwise very smoothly running engine.

For investors who want to invest on regulated P2P platforms, while having the prospect of achieving competitive double-digit returns, Viainvest is a strong and stable alternative worth considering for your P2P portfolio.

FAQ Viainvest Review