EstateGuru opens technology center in Armenia (photos)
YEREVAN, February 10. /ARKA/. EstateGuru, the leading Pan-European marketplace facilitating property-backed short-term loans, has opened a technology center in Armenia.
Co-founder and Chairman of EstateGuru Marek Partel spoke about the company’s mission and operations before the opening ceremony of the center in Yerevan. According to him, the idea of creating such a platform was prompted by situations when companies had to slow down their operations due to inability to swiftly get a loan.
"EstateGuru is a company with eight years of experience. Our flagship center of products and innovation has always been in Estonia, the homeland of "unicorns". The aim of the company is to facilitate loans from private investors for small and medium-sized property-owing companies in Europe. We have about 120,000 investors on our platform," said Partel.
He said cooperation with Armenia began after his meeting with Ararat Yuzbashyan (currently serving as EstateGuru's technical director).
"Armenia is super. We will continue to invest and innovate in our ambitious technology roadmap to discover talent. We're using the latest cloud technology for scalability, resiliency and flexibility," Partel said.
He said the company found the necessary technicians in Armenia back in 2013. "The industry in Armenia is still really thriving, so we decided to open a technology programming support center here. Our team is growing rapidly and already has 25 specialists. We really value high-quality tools and attract IT talent from both Armenia and its neighboring countries," Partel said.
In response to ARKA news agency’s question the technical director of EstateGuru Ararat Yuzbashyan, spoke about the company's operations in Armenia.
"Our cooperation began in 2013, and then it was expanded. Now EstateGuru is officially opening a technology branch in Armenia, and we are starting to officially engage in IT activities. Our main focus is on technical solutions, which we implement together with EstateGuru," Yuzbashyan said.
According to him, the decision to set up a branch in Armenia was conditioned by the country’s IT sector’s potential and its development prospects.
Yuzbashyan says the presence of a European company is important for the country's reputation. "In 2019, we had seven employees. Currently, our team consists of 25 specialists . This year we are going to bring in another 13 specialists, but this is just the beginning. In the next 2-3 years, our staff is to exceed 100 employees," Yuzbashyan said.
He said the company employs talented programmers both from Armenia and neighboring countries such as Jordan, Syria and Iran.
"Armenia's position in the region, as well as the toolkit for attracting talent, are quite strong. Our future roadmap is based on security and innovation. The security of our technology infrastructure is being constantly reviewed and tested by an independent security team. It monitors our systems and scans for vulnerabilities. The best talents in the region are part of our IT team to support our development projects," said Yuzbashyan.
Armenian Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan, who attended the ceremony, also called the opening of the technology center important for Armenia.
"EstateGuru is a fast-growing, European company. And Armenian IT industry is quite competitive and in demand among international investors. The proof is this achievement," said Kerobyan, welcoming the company's expansion in Armenia.
According to him, this provides Armenian companies and specialists with the opportunity to become part of major international projects, which not only increase their personal competitiveness, but also expand their horizons.
"Despite the challenges we will face in 2022, the technology startup industry in Armenia is growing. Many startups have made progress over the past year," Kerobyan said. He noted that the ultimate goal is to turn Armenia into a regional center of technological progress.
About EstateGuru
EstateGuru was founded in 2013 by developers and real estate market experts to help entrepreneurs obtain financing by continuously offering investors a stable investment product. Its team consists of 113 specialists in 19 cities, including Tallinn (headquarters), Helsinki, London, Riga, Vilnius, Yerevan, Berlin and Amsterdam.
EstateGuru is the leading Pan-European marketplace for short-term, property-backed loans for SME-s and carefully selected investment opportunities for global investors. By bringing together various service providers, SMEs and investors in one marketplace, the company provides a unique offer that no other financial institution can do, i.e. seamless, cross-border and digital services for borrowers and investors.
The mission of EstateGuru is to improve the efficiency and transparency of the EU property financing market, to provide borrowers and investors with a seamless and borderless 24/7 service worldwide.
Since 2014, EstateGuru has expanded its geographic reach and now offers investments to businesses in eight countries. In total, more than 500 million euros in loans have been granted through the company, with interest payments to 115,000 investors estimated at 38 million euros.
The key to the success of the business model is digitalization; 90% of the company's core processes are digitized, making operations flexible and efficient. The speed and flexibility of financing is due to the lending technology, automating processes that would otherwise require manual intervention. -0-
