The Financial Times startup news portal Sifted.eu has announced the 15 most influential women in fintech in Europe. One of them is Lithuanian, Viktorija Vanagė, co-founder and chairman of the board of the crowdfunding platform "Profitus" and fund management company "Victory Funds".

In compiling this list, Sifted.eu focused on the five European countries that attracted the most fintech investments after the United Kingdom: Germany, Sweden, France, Spain, and Lithuania. In the list, which included only C-level executives, V. Vanagė's name is mentioned among such influential women in the field of fintech as the German fintech unicorn, Georgie Smallwood, the head of the product group of the digital bank N26, or the financial director of the best-rated Swedish fintech startup Klarna Camilla Giesecke.

"I'm glad that an influential startup portal, which is extremely difficult to get into, paid attention not only to me but also to Lithuania. This is a great vote of confidence and recognition for our country, which has once again been shown to be a great place to invest. I hope that this international evaluation will open up new opportunities for us abroad and attract new investments to Lithuania", says V. Vanagė.

The only Lithuanian woman included in the list, who works in what she calls very male fields - real estate and finance - says that she notices that more and more women are deciding to take on management positions: "The further along, the more women are holding management positions in Lithuania. This trend can be seen even in seemingly all-male fields, such as the construction sector. Being the head of a company is a question of what level of responsibility a person can shoulder. Women work really well and carefully, but we need more courage, not to be afraid to make decisions that can sometimes cost several million euros", says V. Vanagė.

Lithuania is the second largest fintech center in Europe

Reviewers of the portal Sifted.eu name Lithuania as the second largest European "fintech" center after the United Kingdom, our country is growing rapidly in this area and is chasing first place. In 2018 alone, the number of "fintech" startups in Lithuania increased by 45 percent. For comparison, in 2018 170 such companies were registered in the country, and in 2017 – 117. In addition, Lithuania ranks first in the European Union in terms of women's involvement in the technology industry. In 2018, when the European average was 41 percent. of women in this field, in Lithuania women occupied 57%, and in most of the country's "fintech" companies, women make up at least 30%. workers.

Since the start of operations in 2018 real estate investment platform "Profitus" raised a total of 12.3 million EUR funds and financed 83 projects. In just a few years of operation, the platform attracted more than 8,000 registered investors, and at the beginning of this year, the portal eu-startups.com named the company as one of the most promising startups in Lithuania.

The pandemic did not stop investments

When asked to share the secret of business success, V. Vanagė revealed the essential principle he follows: "It is one thing to have an idea, but it is quite another to implement it, to establish a business, to make the whole organism work, and it is even more complicated to maintain everything." This is especially true when dealing with completely unexpected, uncertain situations like this pandemic. Maintaining a business requires a lot of work, investing a lot of energy, concentration, and strength, and the most important thing is to clearly know your strategy and always stick to it."

Although the pandemic shook the whole world, the entrepreneur sees new opportunities here: "This situation allowed businesses to recalculate their costs, check their efficiency and ability to adapt. I am very happy that many businesses have reoriented to the remote working method, we have even increased the efficiency of our work. In my opinion, this is a big step forward for all companies.”

V. Vanagė is convinced that the current pandemic will not have a significant impact on the real estate business: "This pandemic will certainly not affect the real estate market as much as the 2007 crisis. People continue to buy real estate, and according to economist Nerijaus Maciulis, there is no intention to stop more expensive purchases, the expert says. - Of course, there will be changes: banks have already started to tighten the conditions for issuing housing loans, and many people have lost their jobs and currently cannot purchase property. But the industry is slowly getting back on track and I think it was more of a technical stop and we'll move up. Prices may adjust slightly due to reduced demand and people's financial capabilities, but there will certainly not be major shocks."

The businesswoman adds that big developers have a package of solutions in order to keep their customers. They offer more favorable conditions to the consumer, such as aus has not yet been in Lithuania and it is 12 percent. more than in 2018. Hence, there is a lot of money in the market. This trend is also noticeable in our area - in April, during the peak of the pandemic and quarantine, we mobilized almost 1 million. EUR investments, people continue to invest. This shows that we have earned the trust of the market during the one and a half years of operation, and this is the most important thing in the financial business", says V. Vanagė.