Co-Fi Crowdlanding Platform

History

2023: Ability to raise funding directly from independent investors without collateral or sureties

The Ko-Fi crowdlanding platform, previously created as a platform to support the Russian creative business, is expanding its activities. For two years, dozens of musicians, designers, photographers, directors attracted more than 75 million rubles on it. Now all entrepreneurs, regardless of the field of activity, can attract financing directly from independent investors without collateral and guarantees. The company announced this on October 19, 2023.

Recent years have turned out to be quite difficult for business due to pandemic restrictions and global uncertainty. Nevertheless, statistics show that the number of individual entrepreneurs in Russia continues to grow. Forward-looking businesses always need more investment, tax breaks, grants and other financial support measures to scale and increase profits. Raising funds in traditional ways is not always easy, so Co-Fi decided to make lending and investment tools for business even more affordable. Now any entrepreneur can attract investments on the platform, - said Yana Ponomarenko, marketing director of the Ko-Fi platform.

To place an application on the platform, the entrepreneur must have a monthly income of at least 150,000 rubles for four months. You can attract funding in the range from 100,000 to 3 million rubles. The final amount depends on the income and life of the business. Also, platform specialists check the passport, bank statement for the year and the entrepreneur's tax return to make a final decision on the amount of the loan.

For business, the platform is convenient in that interest is charged only on the balance of loan debt, and not on the full amount of the loan. Another plus is an individual approach to the application of each entrepreneur, which increases the chances of obtaining a loan, including in the event of a technical error that an automated system may miss.

For investors, this is an opportunity to lend to a promising business with a yield that exceeds the rates of bank deposits and the profitability of comparable investments in stocks and bonds. Only applications that have passed a comprehensive verification procedure are allowed to raise funds. The investor can choose applications with the optimal investment horizon - from 6 to 12 months, and an acceptable level of risk and yield - from 21 to 35% per annum. Loan and interest payments are made monthly, not at the end of the term, which reduces the risks of default and ensures regular profitability.

2021: Crowdlanding Platform Launch

On March 9, 2021, the Co-Fi crowdlanding platform was launched in Russia, thanks to which representatives of creative industries will be able to receive money secured by intellectual rights. Musicians, producers, publishers, video makers and even bloggers will have to place an application online, indicate the required amount, interest rate and refund period. At the same time, those wishing to invest in a creative project will be invited to invest money with a yield of 15-25% per annum.

The first borrowers will be Soyuz Studio, Ray Records Music Publishing House, Soyuz Music, Russian Cinema and Ligalpix. As Alexander Sukhotin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Co-Fi platform, explains, for large companies, co-financing a project secured by intellectual rights is the best way to diversify their assets, and for unprofessional investors it is an excellent opportunity to earn without high risks, becoming a partner of industry representatives with a good long-term reputation.

Russian banks are extremely reluctant to accept intellectual property as collateral. The crowdlanding platform, where borrowers meet with investors without intermediaries, is designed to compensate the market for the slowness of the conservative system, - Alexander Sukhotin is sure.

Meanwhile, the platform will be of interest not only to professional investors. Anyone who wants to support their favorite musician, director or video blogger, as well as make money on investments in the field of cinema and media business, will be able to invest in the project and share its success. Content makers will be able to bring their audience to the platform, ready not only to like artists or send them donations, but also to invest in their work with the prospect of subsequent financial returns.

It is important to note that the development of crowdlanding in Russia is an indicator of the growth of the creative economy. Crowdlanding, unlike crowdfunding, forms a bilateral contract and makes it possible to earn money on content production for both creators and consumer investors. The latter do not "donate" money as patrons of art, but invest, provide a loan at a percentage.

Shooting a video clip is one mode of spending borrowed funds and paying off debt. The production of the film is different, here it is logical to return the borrowed funds after the film collects the box office at the box office. Just as cellular operators offer us to switch from one tariff to another, the platform will adapt and offer investment products for different categories of borrowers and different projects, - explains Alexander Sukhotin.

The start of the Co-Fi platform is the withdrawal of domestic investment potential to a qualitatively different level and fresh breath for the creative market.

2020

Inclusion of the Co-Fi crowdlocking platform in the register of investment platforms of the Central Bank

The crowdlanding platform Co-Fi is included in the register of investment platforms of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. This was reported on August 18, 2020 by the IPChain association.

On January 1, 2020, the Federal Law of the 259-FZ "On Attracting Investments Using Investment Platforms and on Amending Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" entered into force, according to which all investment platforms operating in Russia should be included in the register of the Central Bank.

According to the chairman of the board of directors of Co-Fi Alexander Sukhotin, the innovative model of the platform was adopted by the Central Bank after two months of consideration of the application.

"We managed to convince the regulator that the features of the functionality of our platform, which have no analogues in the market, comply with Russian legislation. The main nuances of the Co-Fi operating model are that we open personal accounts for both investors and borrowers, thanks to which it is convenient to repay loans: the amounts will be written off automatically, "said Alexander Sukhotin.

The expert added that many investment platforms require customers to open an account only with a specific bank. However, such restrictions will not apply to Co-Fi users.

About the Platform

Logo in 2020

Co-Fi (Co-Fi LLC) is a digital platform for securing investment loans secured by intellectual property. With its help, copyright holders can receive funding for the implementation of creative or high-tech projects.

The platform brings together copyright holders and people who are ready to provide creative people and inventors with loans secured by an intellectual product.

As of August 2020, Co-Fi functioned on the basis of a distributed register of intellectual property, IPChain which ensures the transparency of all transactions.

2019: Member of the Association of Investment Platform Operators

In February 2019, Co-Fi became a member of the Association of Investment Platform Operators, which unites participants in the Russian electronic investment market.