In a shake-up for the real estate industry, Lithuanian startup InRento has merged with Estonian-founded EvoEstate, and as a result become the largest licensed buy to let crowdfunding platform in Europe. The company will continue to operate under the name InRento.
Founded in Vilnius in 2020, InRento is on a mission to provide everyone with the opportunity to diversify their real estate portfolio as easily as possible, and with as little as €500, offering a new innovation to the European real estate industry. The fresh company, founded just last year, has a goal to take the hassle out of property investment and investors’ earnings combine rental yield and capital growth when the property is sold at a higher price.
The company has been growing at a rapid pace since its launch, acquiring Estonian real estate platform BitOfProperty and expanding to Spain towards the end of 2021, as well as picking up €530k in August last year.
EvoEstate, based in Tallinn and operating since 2019, is a real estate crowdfunding aggregator that makes investing in property easy by offering the lowest investment amount of €50. It lists selected projects from other European platforms in one place. In 2020, at the Techchill Conference in Riga, EvoEstate was recognized as the No. 1 fintech company in the Baltics. In 2020, the startup raised €320k to take its next-gen investment platform global.
According to Gustas Germanavičius, founder and CEO of InRento, after this merger, InRento will be able to implement its vision faster – to offer more larger-scale rental projects in Europe and attract a bigger number of investors worldwide. EvoEstate’s founder also believes the merger will accelerate EvoEstate’s wider goals.
Germanavičius said: “Our growth strategy is based not only on expanding InRento as a platform, but also on acquiring or merging with other companies. This helps us move forward faster. The decision to merge with EvoEstate is one of the strategic steps taken in order to offer existing and potential investors larger projects, gain a foothold in the local market and ensure internationalization.”
Višniauskas commented: “Since the launch of EvoEstate, one of our main tasks has been to simplify the real estate investment processes using modern technology. I have no doubt that by joining forces with InRento, we will be able to promote Lithuania’s name in the field of proptech and develop measures that would make investing in real estate even more convenient.”
For some time after the merger, the EvoEstate platform will continue to serve existing investors, who will have the opportunity to invest in rental projects offered by InRento. In the long run, the aggregator platform will be integrated into InRento completely.
EvoEstate, together with InRento, has funded projects worth more than 13 million euros. Their investor base unites over 12 000 investors from various countries.
The real estate market in Europe is hotting up and this is certainly an interesting new development. Further, it additionally reflects the high level of innovation and activity stemming from the Baltic region.
