Covering a €3.5M Internal Loan Portfolio Through a Custom Investor Portal

Overview

Modena needed a scalable alternative to bonds and parent-company funding to finance its internal loan portfolio. I worked on designing an investor-facing P2P platform that allows external investors to fund Modena's loan products through pooled investment vehicles called Vaults.

Within one year of launch, the platform covered €3.5M of the loan portfolio and became a core funding channel. This shift reduced pressure on ad-hoc funding methods and enabled the launch of new loan products that were previously constrained by capital availability.

The Problem

Access to capital was a recurring constraint on Modena's growth. Early-stage funding from the parent company and later bond issuance kept the business operating, but both approaches had clear limits. At the same time, using established P2P marketplaces would have significantly reduced margins and control.

From a product perspective, the challenge was not only technical or financial. The platform had to convince external investors to fund a single-originator loan portfolio — something that typically relies on scale and diversification to feel trustworthy. We needed to launch quickly, with limited room for experimentation, and get the fundamentals right from day one.

Constraints and Design Intent

This project operated under tight constraints. Margins were thin, legal requirements were strict, and there was no existing investor-facing experience to build upon. Investments had to map precisely to underlying contracts, and any ambiguity in communication carried regulatory and trust risks.

Because of this, the design intent was clear early on: reduce perceived risk by prioritizing familiarity, clarity, and predictability. Rather than invent new interaction models, the platform would deliberately align with established P2P investment patterns so that investors could rely on prior mental models when evaluating Modena.

Another way to build trust was to borrow credibility from established third-party tools. For example, integrating Veriff for identity verification signaled that the platform took security seriously, leveraging the reputation of a recognized provider rather than relying solely on home-built solutions.

My Role and Contribution

I worked as the UI/UX Designer on the project. Final product decisions were made by the Product Manager, who was also the CEO, and I did not have veto power over UX direction.

My contribution focused on shaping how product and legal decisions were translated into investor-facing experiences. This included evaluating existing P2P platforms, identifying patterns that support trust and comprehension, and designing flows that balanced financial accuracy with usability. I was also involved post-launch, iterating on the product based on investor feedback and observed friction.

Research and Groundwork

Understanding the P2P investment space

Given the sensitivity of financial products and the limited runway, research focused on understanding how established platforms communicate risk, liquidity, and returns. I reviewed several leading P2P platforms to identify recurring patterns in onboarding, dashboards, and investment flows.

Rather than treating competitors as inspiration for visual design, the focus was on behavior: how quickly investors understand where their money goes, how easily they can assess liquidity, and how clearly risks are framed.

The platforms I analyzed included Mintos, PeerBerry, Bondora, Monefit, and Hive5. From these, I identified the essential elements we needed for our MVP.

Investor perspective as validation

To complement internal assumptions, we reviewed independent investor commentary. A detailed German P2P investment blog reviewing Modena provided insight into how investors perceived the platform when evaluating it alongside incumbents.

The review highlighted that automated Vaults were easy to understand and genuinely passive, and that monthly payouts to a bank account stood out as a strong differentiator. At the same time, it surfaced early skepticism around buyback mechanisms, liquidity timing, and transparency of performance data — all common concerns for new platforms.

This external perspective reinforced the need to prioritize clarity and clear design choices over feature depth.

Solution

The platform was structured around pooled investment products called Vaults. These abstracted loan-level complexity while still reflecting the legal reality of the underlying contracts. The MVP was built in 2 months.

Three core products were introduced early:

Across all products, the interface emphasized progressive disclosure, distinct visual language, and clear separation between expected returns and guarantees.

Iteration and Refinement

While no formal interviews were conducted, early usability testing with existing bond investors and post-launch feedback quickly revealed areas of confusion.

Initial lock-in periods varied between 30 and 90 days, which created uncertainty for investors accustomed to clearly defined limits. Buyback mechanisms were questioned early due to the platform's lack of historical credibility. Performance reporting initially relied on static projections, which reduced confidence.

These issues were addressed by simplifying lock-in rules, clarifying buyback behavior, improving how returns were communicated, and expanding contextual explanations throughout the product.

Results and Impact

After one year, the platform had become a central funding channel for Modena. Beyond the numbers, the platform reduced the need to actively search for investors and enabled the launch of business loan and credit products that were previously limited by funding.

Launch and Growth

The initial launch was limited to a closed investor group and closely monitored by the product and investor relations teams. Once stability was confirmed, growth was supported by a targeted German finance influencer via the Clickwise platform.

This approach proved more effective than broad marketing, particularly for a trust-driven financial product.

What I Learned

This project reinforced that in fintech, familiarity often builds more trust than innovation. Clear liquidity rules, predictable behavior, and clear design choices mattered more than feature richness. It also highlighted how legal and financial constraints directly shape user experience, and how even informal investor feedback can quickly reveal trust gaps.