How Findigo lends to Czech businesses that banks reject

Radim Jauker and Filip Poták, co-founders and partners at investment group Findigo, explain how private capital becomes a lifeline for entrepreneurs when bank procedures are too slow or simply don't apply — whether it's an urgent property purchase, buying out a partner's stake, or a complex development project.

According to Jauker, banks today favour large volumes of financing and strictly follow regulatory frameworks, which often makes smaller or non-standard deals economically unviable for them. “The transaction doesn't make economic sense for the bank because of internal costs, regulation, or the time the process takes,” he explains.

That's precisely Findigo's niche: the company can assess a deal and release funds within a week if the situation demands it. Poták, who is responsible for short-term secured loans to entrepreneurs at the company, cites the example of a client who urgently needed 30 million crowns to buy a property. Without a quick decision, he would have lost both a sizeable deposit and the property itself, which other buyers were also after. The key to a fast resolution was solid collateral in the form of another property, which sharply reduced the risk and allowed Findigo to act almost instantly.

Speed and flexibility in private financing come at a price — loan interest rates start at 9%. That's why Findigo doesn't position itself as a cheap alternative to banks, but rather as a partner for situations where time matters most and banks simply have no ready-made solution for the specific scenario.

Even so, private capital isn't available to everyone: every case goes through a risk assessment, a review of the business plan, and an official valuation of the property put up as collateral. Poták admits that the first thing he looks out for is a vague or unrealistic repayment scenario, conflicting information, or attempts to hide problems. Paradoxically, an overly attractive business plan is also a red flag. “Protecting investors' capital always comes first. We've learned not to trust things that sound too good to be true,” Poták stresses, adding that if a project doesn't make economic sense on its own, the deal won't go ahead regardless of its potential returns.

Among the tools Findigo offers is a bullet loan — a single repayment of the full debt at the end of the term — ideally suited to development projects that only start generating income once completed. The company also frequently serves as a complement to a bank loan, for example as bridge financing, where precise coordination of lien priority and the roles of all parties to the deal is essential.