Lande Analysis

LANDE (formerly LendSecured) is a crowdfunding platform for farmers. It operates in Latvia, Lithuania, and, most recently, Romania. Investors with a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) bank account can participate in agriculture loans secured by collateral such as land, machinery or grain. Since its launch in 2019, LANDE has secured a total funding of €17,142,000, with €8.48 million funded in the past year, averaging a volume of €0.71 million monthly.^[1] The platform boasts a community of 6,220 active investors.^[2]

• LANDE offers three types of agricultural loans at a minimum investment of €50.
• Interest rates vary between 10% and 13%, with investors receiving monthly payments.
• Loans are backed by collateral and have a duration ranging from 3 to 60 months.
• 9% of loans experience repayment delays of 5 to 30 days, 2.8% delayed by 31 to 60 days, and a 1.1% default rate.

LANDE serves as a middleman connecting investors with farmers looking for financing. Investors can choose from three types of loans: Seasonal Funding, Machinery Loans, and Land Buying, each at a minimum investment of €50. 

Loan durations range from 3 to 60 months and the target amount of campaigns ranges from €3500 to €100,000. Seasonal funding spans 3-12 months, machinery loans cover 12-36 months, and land buying extends from 12-60 months. Investors receive monthly interest payments.^[3]

Although the platform lacks a provision fund and does not set aside money for default risk, it secures loans with collateral. Seasonal funding involves a personal guarantee and a 3-way agreement (grain buyer, LANDE, and the farmer). Machinery loans use a commercial pledge, and land buying is secured with a mortgage loan. LANDE does not offer consumer loans and does not provide a buyback guarantee for agriculture projects but the repayment is secured by collateral, 3-way agreement, or a personal guarantee.

The investments are structured as full bullet loans with principal repayment at the end of term. Investors receive interest throughout the loan duration until repayment. For investors wanting to sell investments before the term ends, a secondary market is available and LANDE also offers an auto-invest feature.^[4]

Among the currently listed projects in the primary and secondary market, LANDE offers an interest rate ranging from 10% to 13%. Since its launch, the platform has funded 777 projects, distributing €965,145.45 in earned interest to investors and repaying a total of €4,619,000. Of the total loans, 9% experience repayment delays of 5 to 30 days, 2.8% are delayed by 31 to 60 days, and 5.4% are delayed by more than 60 days. The default rate is currently 1.1%, but the platform does not provide any insights to actual net return of the investors.^[5]

LANDE does not charge direct fees to investors but makes money by imposing expenses and fees on borrowers. These fees are covered in the loan agreements and include a success fee, deducted from the target loan amount transferred to the Borrower.^[6]

Lande was founded by Nikita Goncars (acting CEO) and Edgars Tālums as initially LendSecured and then rebranded to Lande. They previously ran a mortgage and agricultural lending service business Latvijas Hipotēka Ltd.

Today Nikita Gončars is the founder and CEO of LANDE. He, along with a team of seasoned professionals in lending and real estate, brings over a decade of industry expertise. Jānis Laiviņš serves as the Chief Legal Officer, contributing to the team's diverse skills, which include an in-house debt collection department and a sales team with significant financial knowledge.

LANDE Platform Ltd. is based in Riga, Latvia, and partners with Lemonway to separate investor funds from company funds, a French Payment Institution authorized by the ACPR – Banque de France for lending/borrowing transactions. Nikita is the main controlling owner of LANDE together with three other entities “VAUBAN NOMINEES LIMITED”, “BADideas OÜ” and other shareholders in the entity “LANDE INVESTORS”.^[7]

LANDE Reported a profit after tax of €18,137 and €42,194 in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Profit after tax in 2022 was €17,297. Although the platform has been profitable over the last three years, earnings have declined by -59% from 2021 to 2022. On a positive note, earnings in 2022 remain in line with 2020.^[8]

In March 2023, LANDE revealed its entry into the Romanian market. In the Baltic region, LANDE has allocated €9 million in financing to support small and medium businesses overseeing more than 60,000 hectares of arable land. The platform's goal is to tackle the €46 billion agricultural funding gap in Europe, with Romania holding a notable position in the European economy's agricultural landscape.^[9]