Fintown Review 2026: Prague Rentals, One Developer, No Licence

Fintown is a Prague-based online platform that raises money from retail investors to finance real estate projects of the Vihorev group, a Czech developer and operator of rental apartments. The platform is run by Fintown s.r.o., which the Vihorev group's annual report lists as a 100%-owned subsidiary.

It is not a marketplace of independent developers. Almost every lot on the platform is a Vihorev project: completed rental buildings such as Honest Říčany and Honest Karlín, developments such as Honest Michle, Park Vista in Zbraslav and Kolovraty, and a development in Costa Rica called The Seed. Fintown says more than €30 million has been invested since launch by more than 6,000 registered investors, with about €18 million outstanding in mid-2026.

The short answer: real buildings, a young and unlicensed platform, and all the risk in one group. The live profile is on the Fintown platform page; how we score platforms is in our methodology.

Fintown's structure is a loan participation. Fintown s.r.o. lends to the developer — in the FAQ's words, "the lender in the agreement is Fintown s.r.o. and the borrower is the developer" — and then lets investors participate in that loan. You receive a proportional share of the interest and principal Fintown collects.

What that means legally

The terms and conditions are clear: "The Investment does not establish any legal relationship between the User and the Borrower." Your claim is against Fintown s.r.o., secured by a lien on your proportionate part of Fintown's claim against the borrower. Two consequences follow:

• If the developer does not pay, you bear the loss, and only Fintown can pursue the developer.
• If Fintown itself becomes insolvent, the terms warn that "the User may lose all or part of the Investment".

Where you sit in the capital stack

Fintown describes its loans as mezzanine loans tied to operating or developed property, and states that each property's estimated value should cover "payments on a Senior loan and Fintown loan". A senior lender — typically a bank — is repaid first. The FAQ adds that "the loan is not secured, unless it is stated in the information on the page". Current rental lots show loan-to-value ratios of 70–71%, which on a mezzanine loan means your slice sits in the upper part of that 70%.

Skin in the game

Fintown's homepage says the developer puts in at least 20% of its own funds per project, and the about page gives an average of 31% across published projects. That equity absorbs the first losses — but it is the same group's equity, not an outside sponsor's.

Fintown s.r.o. (ID 17323657) was entered in the Czech Commercial Register on 13 July 2022, with its seat at Jungmannova 26/15, Prague 1. Its platform rules took effect on 1 December 2022, and Fintown's first blog post introducing the platform dates from 28 December 2022.

The founder is Maxim Vihorev, who has worked in Prague real estate since 2008. The co-founder and director named in the 2024 annual report is Vladislav Siganevic, previously associated with Creamfinance. The Vihorev group's own annual report shows Maxim Vihorev holding 90% of the group and Andrii Vykhorev 10%, and lists project companies such as Říčany Apartments s.r.o., Rezidence Strakonická s.r.o., VD Project Zbraslav s.r.o. and VD Project Kolovraty s.r.o.

Why the ownership matters

The platform, the lender of record and the borrowers are all controlled by the same people. Fintown decides which projects to list, sets the rate, and would be the party enforcing against a defaulting developer — which would be its own parent's project company. That conflict is built into the model. An early Fintown post said projects could also come from third parties, but the lots on offer and recently completed are Vihorev projects.

Fintown accepts natural persons aged 18 or over with a euro bank account; companies can apply by email.

1. 1Register on fintown.eu and confirm your email.
2. 2Complete identity verification under Czech anti-money-laundering rules. Since November 2025 Fintown also asks investors to confirm a postal address before withdrawing.
3. 3Transfer euros by bank transfer using your personal reference. A wrong reference costs €10, and a transfer in another currency is converted and costs €20.
4. 4Choose a lot on the investment opportunities page and invest at least €100.
5. 5Read the project page for the borrower, the security (if any), the loan-to-value and the minimum term before you commit.

There is no auto-invest tool described on Fintown's site; every investment is a manual choice.

Fintown keeps things simple: sign-up needs an email address, a phone number and a euro bank account, identity is checked by an automatic document scan, and investing is a matter of choosing a lot and entering an amount.

Signing up

Registration asks for a valid email address, a mobile phone number and your bank account details. Identity verification is automated through Identomat, a document-scanning service, so there is no paperwork to post. On registration you also get a personal ID number, which you use as the reference on deposits and in any messages to Fintown.

Deposits

Funding is by ordinary bank transfer from your registered account to the account number shown on the deposit page of your Fintown account. Fintown charges investors no platform fees; your own bank may charge for the transfer. Fintown does not state how quickly deposits are credited, and no card or instant payment option is listed.

Investing

Every investment is a manual choice, and the steps are short:

1. 1Log in and open a lot on the investment opportunities page.
2. 2Click Invest, enter an amount within the lot's limits (usually from €100) and confirm.

On rental lots the money is invested straight away and interest starts accruing the same day, with payouts each month. On development lots the money is held in your account until fundraising closes. There is no auto-invest tool, so building a portfolio takes a few clicks per lot rather than one set of rules.

App and languages

Fintown has an Android app on Google Play, published by Fintown s.r.o. and last updated on 13 March 2026. The website is available in ten languages: English, Spanish, German, Czech, French, Italian, Dutch, Latvian, Polish and Greek.

Support

The FAQ answers most practical questions, and Fintown points investors to its email address, info@fintown.eu, for help with registration or anything else.

Fintown's homepage advertises 8–12% a year. In practice there are two product families, and the rate depends on which you buy.

Rental

Loans against completed, operating rental buildings. Interest accrues daily and is paid monthly. On 21 September 2026 four rental lots were open:

• Říčany (Stage 2) Lot 25: 11%, minimum term 24 months, LTV 70%
• Říčany (Stage 2) Lot 24: 10%, 18 months, LTV 70%
• Říčany (Stage 2) Lot 23: 9%, 12 months, LTV 70%
• Karlín (Stage 2) Lot 1: 8%, 6 months, LTV 71%

The pattern is simple: the longer you commit, the higher the rate.

Development

Loans to projects under construction, with principal repaid at the end. Since October 2025 Fintown has offered a quarterly version: its Q3 2025 report describes 11% with quarterly interest or 13% paid at term end. Completed development lots on the site show rates between 10% and 13%. The FAQ states that development investments cannot be cancelled once made.

Advertised versus realised

Fintown reports more than €3 million of interest paid and over €12 million of principal returned, and we found no reported defaults in its own updates. That is a record of four years in a rising market: Fintown itself cites a 10.6% rise in Czech residential prices in 2025. A 13% rate on a mezzanine development loan to a related party is a price for risk, not evidence that the risk is small.

The strongest point in Fintown's favour is that you can see what you are financing. The Vihorev group's 2024 report lists its branded HONEST apartment buildings:

• Honest Smíchov — 26 units, completed 2019
• Honest Karlín — 31 units, completed Q2 2024
• Honest Říčany — 120 units, completed Q3 2024
• Honest Michle — 31 units, due 2026
• Park Vista Zbraslav — 6 luxury units, due 2026

Fintown's Q3 2025 report gives occupancy and average daily rates — Smíchov 85% at €81+, Karlín 86% at €86, Říčany 96% — which shows these are short-stay or serviced rentals priced by the night, not long-term leases. That income depends on Prague tourism and on local rules for short-term rentals, which can change.

The group also runs development projects in Kolovraty (permitting stage in late 2025) and The Seed in Costa Rica, where Stage 2 fundraising launched with a €2 million target. Costa Rica is a different market, legal system and currency from Prague, and Fintown's descriptions of its model focus on Prague.

Fintown charges no platform fee to investors. The small charges in the platform rules are:

• €10 for each deposit with a wrong reference;
• €20 for a deposit in a currency other than euro, plus conversion;
• €1 for the second and each later withdrawal on the same day.

The cost that matters is the early exit fee (next section), which can reach 20% of the amount withdrawn plus all accrued interest. Your bank may also charge for transfers. Fintown earns its margin between the rate the developer pays and the rate investors receive; its 2024 annual report gives a 14% net interest margin.

There is no secondary market. Money comes back when the loan is repaid, or through Fintown's Early Exit 2.0 programme, introduced on 6 March 2025 and written into the general terms effective the same day:

• No exit during the first 6 months.
• Between 6 and 12 months: a 10% fee on up to 50% of outstanding principal.
• After 12 months: no fee on up to 50% of outstanding principal.
• Any withdrawal above 50%: an additional 10% fee.
• All accrued interest up to the exit date is deducted.
• Up to 30 days to pay out, one request per 90 days, minimum €100.

Fintown pays exits itself rather than matching you with a buyer, so the programme depends on Fintown having cash. The FAQ also says rental investments can be withdrawn in full after the minimum period, while development investments cannot be cancelled; check the terms on each lot.

For uninvested cash, the FAQ says withdrawals are usually processed at the beginning of the following month, with a €20 minimum. Treat money on Fintown as tied up for at least the minimum term of each lot.

Fintown offers no buyback and no guarantee. If a developer stops paying, Fintown says it will try to reach an out-of-court agreement and, if the developer has assets, may start legal proceedings. The terms warn that non-payment "may result in the total loss of funds provided by the User".

Protection comes from three places, all weaker than they look:

• Property value. Loan-to-value of about 70% on current lots leaves a cushion — but a mezzanine lender is paid only after the senior lender.
• Developer equity. At least 20% per project, 31% on average by Fintown's count — but it belongs to the same group as the platform.
• Security. Only where a project page states it; the default is unsecured.

Fintown can also terminate your participation early, including when the loan agreement with the developer is amended. Decisions on amending loans are, in the terms' words, "fundamentally and fully within the Company's responsibility" — the company whose parent is the borrower.

Fintown holds no licence. Its document "How Fintown operates and is regulated" states that "Fintown's business model does not fall under a licensed type of activity", citing a response from the Czech National Bank. It is not authorised as a crowdfunding service provider under the EU ECSPR, not an investment firm and not a bank.

In practice this means:

• no ČNB supervision of how investor money is handled;
• no investor compensation scheme and no deposit guarantee — these are not bank deposits;
• no regulated key investment information sheet or appropriateness test of the kind ECSPR platforms must provide.

Investor money sits on Fintown's own balance sheet: the 2024 report shows €10.7 million of investor funds against a €10.5 million loan portfolio. An exemption based on how the product is structured can also change if the regulator's view changes. Compare this with licensed property platforms such as EstateGuru.

Fintown publishes an annual report for Fintown s.r.o. and one for the Vihorev group. The 2024 figures:

• Fintown s.r.o.: total assets €10.9 million, loan portfolio €10.5 million, investor funds €10.7 million, equity −€0.29 million, net interest margin 14%. The report attributes the negative equity to early-stage costs and a one-off loss. It does not mention an audit.
• Vihorev group: gross property valuation of about CZK 2.1 billion against about CZK 1.3 billion of debt, with a loan-to-value of 61%, down from 74% in 2023.

Fintown presents the group figures as audited. The audit report it links is for Vihorev Investments SE alone, as individual (not consolidated) 2024 statements, audited by Ing. Blanka Jindrová with an unqualified opinion dated 4 July 2025. It does not cover Fintown s.r.o. or the consolidated group figures.

The negative equity matters because your claim is against Fintown. A platform with little or no capital of its own, whose parent is its borrower, depends on the group staying solvent.

We found no reported defaults, delayed repayments or regulatory actions in Fintown's own publications, and no incident reports from reputable independent sources. Fintown reports more than €12 million of principal returned to investors.

Fintown does not publish a loan-level default or delay statistic that we could find, so the absence of reported problems cannot be checked against data. Its record also covers only 2022–2026, a period of rising Prague property prices and recovering tourism. How the structure behaves when a development runs late or occupancy falls has not yet been tested in public.

1. 1Related-party concentration. Platform, lender of record and borrowers belong to one group controlled by one family.
2. 2Platform credit risk. Your claim is against Fintown s.r.o., which had negative equity at the end of 2024.
3. 3Subordination. Mezzanine loans are repaid after senior bank debt and are unsecured unless stated.
4. 4No regulation. No licence, no supervision of client money, no compensation scheme.
5. 5Exit cost. Up to 20% in fees plus forfeited interest to leave early; development lots cannot be cancelled.
6. 6Market risk. Income depends on short-stay rental demand in Prague, and one development is in Costa Rica.

For property lending with a licence and many unrelated borrowers, see EstateGuru or Indemo. Our risks page explains how these mechanics work in general.

This is general information, not tax advice. Fintown's FAQ says returns are treated as investment income subject to income tax and that Fintown does not give tax advice. Its terms state that for Czech tax purposes the proceeds are "other income" under Section 10 of the Czech Income Tax Act, which the investor must declare.

We could not confirm from Fintown's pages whether any tax is withheld for non-Czech investors or whether an annual tax statement is provided. In most countries you declare the interest at home. Check with a tax adviser in your country of residence before you file.