HeavyFinance review
8
(our review)
HeavyFinance is an international business lending platform focused on financing agricultural businesses, with average returns ranging from 12 to 14 percent. In our latest review, HeavyFinance scores an 8 out of 10. Campaigns fund working capital, equipment, or CO₂ storage.
Content:
Note: Investing online through HeavyFinance involves risks, and you may lose part or all of your investment.
What defines HeavyFinance?
HeavyFinance is a European crowdfunding platform that offers investment opportunities in agricultural loans, financing farmers for working capital, equipment, or CO₂ storage. Founded in Lithuania, it operates across multiple European countries.
Loans are asset-backed, often by machinery or land. Since its 2020 launch, the platform has provided average returns of 12 to 14 percent.
Creating an Account and Transferring Funds
Creating an account is simple, as it requires only an email. Verification involves taking a photo of your ID and a selfie. You will also need to answer a few questions about your profile, job, and investment knowledge. These questions are fairly standard and partly required by regulators.
Most platforms ask similar things to ensure you understand crowdfunding risks. Once you are verified, you can transfer funds to the platform via a bank transfer to a French IBAN with LemonWay, which securely processes payments. Unfortunately, it does not support other payment methods, such as credit cards.
Offer: agricultural projects in Eastern Europe
On HeavyFinance, you invest in agricultural businesses that offer land or equipment as collateral. The platform operates in various European countries, including Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Portugal, and Bulgaria. Because of that, it has a substantial volume of campaigns despite being relatively new.
Campaigns range from working capital and inventory financing to land and equipment purchases. They vary in risk, so it is advisable to diversify your investments across multiple campaigns.
Green loans for CO₂ storage
HeavyFinance aims to be a sustainable platform with a mission to remove 1 gigaton of CO₂ by 2050. Besides regular campaigns, it offers Green Loans, supporting farmers transitioning to sustainable practices (like regenerative agriculture). Analysis from Investmentplatforms.eu indicates that most campaigns focus on CO₂ storage.
Storing CO₂ in soil generates carbon credits, which farmers can sell to companies aiming for climate targets. Green Loans offer no fixed interest, but investors share in the profits when these credits are sold.
In October 2024, the platform received a 10.5 million euros guarantee from the European Investment Fund (EIF), which enables more favorable financing terms for agricultural businesses and reduces risks for investors.
HeavyFinance vs. LANDE
HeavyFinance is often compared to LANDE. Both are based in the Baltics and offer collateral-backed agricultural loans. Many investors use both platforms to diversify across a wider range of campaigns.
However, some differences do exist. According to us, HeavyFinance often offers higher interest rates, though it also has a higher rate of loans with issues, especially outside the Baltics. Still, many investors achieve higher returns due to the increased interest rates.
While LANDE primarily operates in Romania, HeavyFinance is more active in Poland, Bulgaria, and Portugal. HeavyFinance also offers a broader range of types of campaigns, including CO₂ storage or reduction. Unlike LANDE, which only offers land-backed loans, HeavyFinance also accepts machinery as collateral.
Usability
The platform performs smoothly on both desktop and mobile. On our iPhone test, the dashboard even appeared slightly easier to use than on a laptop.
Project information
HeavyFinance provides detailed project information, including borrowing history, previous years’ revenue, and asset details (such as land or machinery). Additionally, the platform assigns a credit score and offers company background information, allowing investors to conduct their own due diligence. Overall, the information provided is comprehensive.
Occasional 2FA issues
Unfortunately, HeavyFinance does not use Apple’s biometric recognition for two-factor authentication. It can sometimes be inconvenient to enter SMS-codes manually. In our tests, these codes did not always arrive promptly, especially after consecutive login attempts. If you do not receive an SMS, there is no option to resend it. This means that you might have to wait a while until you can login.
Auto-Invest and secondary market
HeavyFinance offers an Auto-Invest feature for investors who want to diversify automatically. You can specify which project types to consider. Additionally, it provides a secondary market for early exits.
Returns of 12-14 percent
While we have been investing on the platform for some time, Investmentplatforms.eu does not yet have enough data to fully assess returns on HeavyFinance. The platform itself reports returns of around 13 percent, though this is a gross figure.
This average assumes all loans complete their terms. HeavyFinance’s latest report shows 75.9 percent of loans are repaid on time, meaning 24.1 percent experience delays. However, higher interest rates often offset this, and we expect returns above 10 percent with a well-diversified portfolio.
Reliability and security
HeavyFinance offers a reliable platform with a strong background in agricultural finance. It was founded by Laimonas Noreika in 2020. He brings extensive fintech experience and focuses on agricultural innovations to reduce CO₂ emissions.
HeavyFinance complies with EU regulations through an ECSP license. Although young and rapidly growing, we find it a stable platform. Investor funds are held with BNP Paribas, keeping them separate from company finances.
Collateral coverage
Many projects are backed by collateral like machinery, land, or European guarantees. While this reduces risk, agricultural circumstances (e.g., weather or price volatility) can still impact repayments. Such risks can also affect collateral reliability.
Many HeavyFinance projects carry higher risk, even with collateral. If issues arise due to regional or sector instability, collateral may lose value.
Review score: 8
In our latest review, HeavyFinance scores an 8. Registration was simple, and the dashboard is user-friendly. We did not find a mobile app, but the platform works well on mobile, laptop, and desktop browsers. It presents itself as a sustainable platform aiming to address the CO₂ problem, though we see the Green Loans as a more interesting revenue model. The returns are often higher than the regular loans, and the volume is too limited to drive the platform’s focus.
The platform is often compared with LANDE. We have used both, as well as regular crowdfunding platforms. HeavyFinance is an interesting platform for investors. It offers a substantial campaign volume and leads in the agricultural sector. Campaigns come with a lot of information and interest rates are strong.
The platform has more delays and defaults than expected for agriculture, but with good diversification, returns still exceed 10 percent easily.
Experiences with HeavyFinance review
Monsieur BONY
11 months ago
I was interested in this platform because the yield was the highest I know of among all crowdfunding platforms, from 11% and up to 15.16% The platform also allows 1 or 2% more profitability on certain projects. I observed that there were strong guarantees offered, and a virtual absence of payment defaults on projects, which is rare. Project durations generally vary between 1 and 3 years. Obviously collateral analysis and risk management are essential, for my part I… lees meer only invest in those which have solid guarantees, such as agricultural land or machinery. I have compiled statistics on all of the platform's past projects: those lasting less than a year with collateral have statistically no defects on the platform, I regularly renew my investments over this duration. I also recommend buying loans on the platform's secondary market, because we have the history of repayments, which allows us to see who the serious borrowers are.
Goda Gustaitė
a year ago
Update 06 22: Half a year has passed since my feedback, and also more than half a year after the half-year delay when the loan was supposed to be disbursed. The representatives of Heavy Finance do not respond to emails until you ask them several times, the COO replies, which means that there is no normal customer service specialist. The postponement of the loan has been delayed for more than a year, and the administrator… lees meer keeps throwing phrases like "we are actively working with the borrower", "we are waiting for the loans to farmers to be disbursed", etc. Same thing for a year now but no real action. It looks like there isn't even any real estate, it's just a time delay. If there are more victims, contact us and we will try to talk to this company with the help of a claim for incapacity. I don't recommend it. The loan was supposed to be paid back in May, but it was postponed with an additional interest of 1.26% (!) for half a year. Half a year has passed, I still haven't gotten my money back and it's not clear if I will get it back and how much I will get it back. My first investment on this platform and what a fun experience it has been.
Karoo D10
2 years ago
Due to the professional approach to the client and good conditions, we have used HeavyFinance's services more than once. We recommend cooperation with Mr. Jan, very good contact and quick organization of funds.
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