Using Location Insights for Investment Decision Making

The Client

Upvest is an investment crowdfunding platform concentrating on investment in real estate. The main focus is providing real-estate private debt and investments through debt participation in projects that underwent thorough analysis and were approved by the investment committee.

Upvest was founded in 2017, and since then, provided funds reaching 11 million EUR, and repaid 5 million EUR with a 0 % default rate.

The key co-owner of the company is Komercni Banka, a member of the Société Générale international financial group.

The Challenge

Invest or Not Invest

Upvest is providing mezzanine financing for various real estate projects, and this case is no exception. The main challenge for any investor is to evaluate the risk of the investment. When it comes to residential projects, civic amenities, accessibility and attractivity of the location will strongly affect the price of residential units and the expected interest of buyers. The site of a commercial project is evaluated based on the competitive environment, surrounding activities for the consumers, consumers living nearby, and other factors depending on the focus of the commercial unit.  All of the influencing factors can be easily evaluated using Location Intelligence.  

The primary question that needed the answer was how attractive is the location for investment and how it stands in comparison with similar shopping malls in the given area.

Upvest is aware that the profitability of investment in real estate is dependent on location factors, such as the number of potential customers living in the neighborhood or surrounding points of interest. Having complex data proving the investment's possible success is crucial for the investment committee's approval. 

Usually, collecting, preparing, and visualizing the data for analysis prolongs the investment's approval process, which is something that Upvest wanted to avoid this time. Therefore, asked CleverMaps to help.

"CleverMaps is an easy-to-use and powerful location intelligence tool. It helped us assess the investment opportunity much faster and saved us hours of bothersome work - gathering datasets, preparing sheets, and creating visualizations. With CleverMaps, ready-to-use analytics was at hand instantly."

- Jiri Cepan, Senior Financial Analyst at Upvest

The Solution

In-depth analysis of the investment opportunity

CleverMaps was able to source all the needed data for the analysis from its Data Market, which made the whole data-collecting process a lot faster. The next step was to connect and adjust the datasets and set up the metrics and parameters to detect the most important comparable locations. 

The main part of the solution was the Exposure Index that aggregates all the essential points of interest in Kavkaz Shopping centre's surrounding area and similar shopping malls in Brno and enables evaluating each location's potential within chosen walking or driving distance. 

Another view shows the population structure, traffic density, and accessibility of the location by public transportation compared to similar city retailers. 

Location Intelligence can be a game-changer for investors because it enables the investor to evaluate the location with the same optics as the Expansion Manager or Branch Network Manager, who will be making decisions on where to locate the new store or branch.

The Result

No skeletons in the closet

Thanks to CleverMaps, Upvest evaluated the investment opportunity and confirmed the initial perspectives much faster. Without CleverMaps similar outcome would take at least a week longer. Believe it or not, in any investment decision, a week can be a deal-breaker. 

Based on the analytical outcomes, especially Exposure Index, Upvest uncovered new threats and concerns regarding the project, giving them deep insights into the investment risk management process.

Location Intelligence can serve real estate companies and investors to evaluate their investment opportunities. We help you make sure that there are no skeletons in the closet and all the potential threats are revealed before you commit to the investment.