Robo.cash Review
Robo.cash Statistics
- Business name: Robo.cash
- Legal name: Robocash d.o.o
- Jurisdiction: Croatia
- Type: P2P platform
-
Average score:
4.5 / 5
11.1 %
6.3
100%
- Total invested: €388.2M
- Buyback guarantee: Yes
- Secondary market: Yes
- Licensed: No
Robo.cash Description
General Information
Robocash is a fully automated p2p platform launched in 2017 and located in Croatia. Currently it is available for investors throughout the EU, UK and Switzerland. This platform offers the following loans: business, single payment, car, mortgage, installment, and development.
Board & Team
According to the platform's website, they currently have 9 employees and useful information is published on the website for each person. There is no publicly available information about CEO's Sergey Sedov education; however, he has been a founder and co-founder of five fin-tech related projects before development of robocash platform which is a rather extensive background.
Financial Analysis
Although the platform does not publish their annual reports on the website, they are available publicly, audited, and without any mistakes. There have been no cases of tax debts and the company has worked with profit ever since it's launch.
Platform’s Score and Uniqueness
Robocash's average return is higher than average without justification on the website. The platform automatically offers buyback guarantee to all loans, and secondary market and autoinvest functions are available as well. Moreover, a justified statistics section is available on the website which covers various important sectors.
Conclusion
Robocash is an automated p2p platform controlled by Robocash group. Even though they do not publish annual reports on their website, there is a useful section with justified statistics. It does not have an investment brokerage license and is not governmentally supervised; however, all loans are protected with buyback guarantee.
Robo.cash CEO
Sergey Sedov
Tell us about the Robocash idea and project's history.
The concept of the Robocash investment platform was born on the basis of already similar platforms operating in Europe, and due to the willingness of Robocash to expand its microfinance business around the world for further growth and, more importantly, diversification of financial risks. The key difference of our operational model is that investors do not provide loans to specific borrowers, but invest directly in chosen credit portfolios by purchasing claim rights in those specific credit portfolios (loans issued by respective microfinance companies). Another key difference in Robocash's operating model is that all of Robocash's lenders are companies wholly controlled by Robocash, meaning that a holding company can very effectively mitigate any financial problems one of the lenders may have.The baseline of our business model is building great customer relationships. Given the long-term plans, we plan to further evolve our investment platform, introduce new features, and work on meeting the specific needs of our customers for further development.
What distinguishes Robocash from other platforms in terms of risk management and services provided?
Thanks to the work within the holding, we have the advantage of being backed by other companies in it. We are able to closely monitor their operation and take measures in advance if it is necessary. This allows us to keep fulfilling our commitments to investors, such as making payments on time. Amid the crisis of 2020 and in the ongoing economic calamity now we keep fulfilling our obligations to investors, paying everything on time and to the full extent, whatever happens.
Tell us more about loan originator connections: is it difficult to make new ones, and what are the criteria for selecting them?
Since Robo.cash works within the financial Group, all loan originators on the platform belong to it. Now we have 5 originators from Spain, Kazakhstan, Singapore, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. The holding is focused on development in Asia, and our originator from Singapore places commercial loans just for this direction. For example, this money is used to develop our business in the Philippines, where we are working on launching a Digital bank. The resources are also directed to the development of Vietnam and India. In 2021, the Vietnamese project showed an increase in issued principal by 296% YoY. Whenever we consider integrating a new loan originator to the platform, we make sure that the company is stable and efficient enough, so investors’ money is not exposed. We started placing loans from Sri Lanka in March as soon as we realized that we needed to directly support our growing business in this country. Investors have already funded loans from Sri Lanka worth 125 thousand euros. As for other lending companies, which are not present on the platform now, they are financed from their own funds. This year the Group is focusing on existing businesses, so it is possible that we will integrate one of our existing companies to the platform.
Is Russia's and Ukraine's geopolitical situation influencing Robocash's business?
The conflict in Ukraine will not affect the operation of the platform and the holding as a whole. The money invested on the Robocash platform is directed to the holding development in Asia and is in no way transferred to or from Russia.
Are there any obstacles or limits that employees/owners of the Robocash encounter as a result of the aforementioned situation?
Many international companies have suspended their services in Russia, and it has a negative impact on the people, obviously. But still, the biggest concern for most of us is what is happening in Ukraine, and we hope for a speedy diplomatic resolution of the situation. As a company, we provide maximum support to our employees and their families who are affected.
What are the primary dangers that investors face at Robocash right now, and how can they be mitigated?
Investors are worried that sanctions against Russia could affect the operation of the platform and the safety of their funds. The Robocash platform, its bank and its originators are not registered in Russia. The Robocash Group holding is headquartered in Singapore. All related transactions, as well as loan disbursement activities of the companies are done through the respective local banks. Therefore, we assure that none of the money invested on Robocash is in any way transferred to or from Russia, and is not affected by any political tension and resulting sanctions. The main focus of the Group's operations is now in Asia, strengthening and scaling the business there. The holding's capital is enough to ensure payments to investors in full in case it is necessary.
Do you have any intentions to expand this year?
At the group level, in 2022 we will focus more on existing businesses to excel them on an operational level. On the platform, we are considering the option of adding new products. For example, in March we launched a new loan originator from Sri Lanka to fund business in the country. Also we are working on improving bonus programs. It is important for us that the investor's experience with the platform is as pleasant as possible, so we plan to further develop the idea of auto-investment strategies. We have been working on updating the investors profile, and even though we can't talk about the release dates yet, this is also one of the tasks we want to focus on.
Do you have any long-term objectives or a product plan you'd want to share?
Robo.cash platform has long-term goals, since we consider it as an important source of funding for companies of the group. I can say more, we are determined to develop this source, increase volumes and become an even bigger and more attractive platform in the European P2P market. We expect that the volumes of funding coming through the platform should be growing gradually, and in 5 years I think we can well count with over 100,000 investors. This may sound ambitious, but we think it’s achievable. Our task here is to be attentive to the needs of investors, watch for the market trends, and keep being transparent.
What do you think the industry's future holds, and what do you think the industry's potential is?
The long-term scenario for the development of the P2P-industry is definitely positive. The European P2P lending market is on the rise now. Those platforms that are already present in the global market have good prospects for further expansion. According to the Statista website, the growth of the alternative lending market in 2026 will be 11% compared to 2022. In general, speaking about the P2P lending market, we take into account the risks of uncertainty. The outcome of such events as COVID-19 or the escalation of political tensions unfortunately, is not under our control. What matters is that we are able to cope with the challenges of market turbulence. Through our resilience to the crisis, we can continue to serve our clients effectively and expand our current operations to achieve better results.
