[Interview] Maxime Pallain, co-founder of Raizers, on BSmart TV

Maxime Pallain, co-founder of Raizers, talking to Jean-Marc Sylvestre on BSmart TV, a media dedicated to economy and finance.

If you don't know it yet, Raizers is an online investment platform that allows individuals and professionals toinvest in real estate by lending directly to real estate developers with average interest rates of 10% over periods of about 24 months.

Jean-Marc Sylvestre wonders why developers turn to Raizers for financing when they could find cheaper funds elsewhere. Maxime Pallain explains that Raizers intervenes in addition to the banks, on the financing of the equity. It costs them less to borrow money at a rate of 10% than to divide their capital with a co-developer who would invest in the capital of their company. Moreover, it brings a guarantee to the banks which will accept more easily to finance the rest of the necessary amount because the funds collected thanks to the platform represent a debt subordinated to the repayment of the bank.

For financing, Raizers gathers thousands of investors on its platform who can invest in a project from 1000 euros. These investors are individuals, professionals, private banks, asset management firms... More recently, Raizers has launched its own investment fund with its partner Capitalium in Switzerland which automatically invests in the projects available on the platform.

Finally, the host points out the constraints that Raizers could encounter. In particular, he asked Maxime Pallain for his vision on the future of real estate. Mr. Pallain does not seem worried, reminding that today a shortage of housing affects France and that the needs remain high. Since Raizers focuses not only on residential but also on commercial and office space, one might be concerned about the impact of telecommuting on the demand for this type of property. Raizers does not offer much of this type of property, but since it only finances the construction, it is not involved once the property is sold, so it does not have much impact on its business.