SeedBlink Blog

With over €160M in loans funded and a 54% revenue growth in the last year alone, Income is back on SeedBlink for its second round, and this time, it's going global. The Estonian fintech startup has built a next-generation P2P investment platform that connects retail and institutional investors with vetted non-bank lenders, all while prioritizing transparency and risk mitigation.

In this interview, we sat down with Kimmo Rytkönen, Founder and Strategic Advisor, who shared how Income is modernizing debt investing, scaling responsibly in emerging markets, and what makes this round a strategic milestone for the company.

1. Kimmo, first of all, welcome back! How has Income evolved since your first SeedBlink round?

Thank you! The company has grown significantly since 2022 our last raise, we have already about 9000 approved investors and our investors have funded already more than €160 million worth of loans through the platform.

2. The European P2P lending market is projected to reach $180B by 2031. What makes Income stand out in this growing market?

Think the market has gone through changes and while its growing, we´ve seen some platforms quit while growth has consolidated to the platforms that have something different to offer. Our approach from the start has been investor protection and the aim has been to build a platform where institutional investor thinking is applied to retail investors.

Think this has been our main differentiation point so far and it’s a path we are continuing on. Interesting to note is that we have also started onboarding institutional capital on the platform recently, so our approach has been noticed also in those circles.

3. Can you explain how features like Buyback Obligations and Cashflow Buffer work to protect investors?

Buyback obligation is simple, if a loan is 60 days past due, then the Loan Originator buys it back from the investors. They are more qualified to deal with overdue loans and it makes sense they deal with these. Also this provides investors a better cashflow from their portfolio.

Cashflow buffer is the way we look at how much cash the Loan Originators portfolio generates. So by determining it, we can also calculate the required junior share, which is the amount of each loan that the loan originator holds. To simplify, if you have a junior share of 30% then a 1000€ loan would have 700€ only invested by our investors. In case we need to collect, then we´d still have the 1000€ loan to collect against, but would only need to collect 700€ to satisfy investors.

The Loan Originator carries the risk of the 30% as first loss buffer. On a portfolio level, if e.g. one million of portfolio placed on the platform generates €1.1 million of cash and the junior share is set at 30%, then the investors would have an investment of €700K against the cashflow from one million portfolio, which would translate to a €400K cashflow buffer.

4. Income has funded over €160M in loans and nearly doubled its assets under management in the past year. What’s driving this growth, and how do you plan to sustain it?

A lot of the growth is attributable to our active investor community, where we have a good reputation and that spreads. Also of course Lavrenti´s (CEO) methodical way of tackling challenges and re-adjusting the team has been great to see. Its still hard work and a lot of work happens under the hood so our plan is to keep going and that itself should sustain our growth.

5. You’re expanding into Mexico and the Philippines. Why those markets, and how are you approaching them?

Both markets are large in fintech lending and have sizeable Loan Originators to co-operate with. We are quite flexible on the markets but these were identified as markets with growth potential and are therefore especially interesting.

6. Where do you see the biggest market opportunities for Income in the next few years?

We´ve built the system so that any cashflowing assets can be added on the platform. Outside the growth of traditional lending market and Loan Originator growth, we have also been looking at co-operation with collection companies and delinquent receivables. which are a very profitable and interesting asset class. Think we are the first platform to offer these type of assets already and we are looking at other exciting alternative investing opportunities also.

7. What are your main goals for this funding round and the next phase of growth?

Main goal is to raise enough funding to finalise developments like secondary market and to execute our sales strategy efficiently so we could reach the €30-40 million assets on platform, then of course after that we will be targeting the €100 million mark.

8. How has your experience of building and exiting AMAR Digital Bank shaped your strategy for Income?

I think AMAR was a different setup as its operation was built as a bank from the start, so a lot more regulation was present as in traditional startups. However I think the greatest learning was that one should not necessarily be afraid of emerging markets in lending and that there is a solution to nearly every challenge.

9. Why is now a good time for investors to join Income’s journey?

I think the growth numbers speak for themselves. Income is no longer just an idea, but a growing startup with established market position in a growing market.

Explore the opportunity on SeedBlink.