Today, I want to share an important milestone in InRento's journey. From 15 September 2026, Bernardas Preikšaitis is taking over as CEO of InRento.
For me personally, this is much more than a change in title or management structure. It is a sign of how far InRento has come and, more importantly, of the kind of company we have managed to build together.
When I started InRento, we were a small team with an ambitious idea. Today, we are an asset-backed real estate investment platform operating across eight European Union markets. By the end of August, the total value of projects funded through InRento had reached EUR 124 million, while our non-performing loan rate remained at 0%.
Over the summer alone, our funded portfolio grew by EUR 24 million.
Numbers like these matter, of course. But this announcement has made me think about some of the things that cannot really be captured by numbers.
Someone recently asked me: when was the first time you felt that you had become successful?
My answer was not when we reached a particular funding milestone, entered another country or received an award.
It was when I realised that InRento’s culture did not depend on me alone.
There was a point when I noticed that I was no longer the only person making sure that our standards, values and way of working were upheld. Other people in the company had taken ownership of them. They were protecting that culture, passing it on and holding one another accountable to it.
For a founder, I think that is one of the clearest signs that you have built something bigger than yourself.
Bernardas taking the lead
Bernardas has been an important part of building and growing InRento.
As COO, he has already been responsible for InRento's day-to-day operations and has worked alongside me as we expanded the business across Europe. His appointment as CEO is therefore not a sudden change in direction. It is the natural next stage in the maturity of InRento.
Over the past few years, the scale and complexity of InRento have changed significantly. We have grown from a Lithuanian platform into a European business operating across eight EU markets. With that growth comes greater responsibility towards investors, borrowers, regulators, our partners and our team.
The management structure of the company needs to evolve together with that responsibility.
Bernardas is very well suited to lead this next stage.
Before joining InRento, he started his career at Ellex Valiunas, working on regulatory matters involving financial institutions, and later gained international fintech experience at Revolut and Airwallex.
That combination of legal, regulatory, operational and international experience is particularly valuable for a regulated investment platform such as ours.
Bernardas puts his priorities for the next stage very clearly: introducing more institutional-grade investment opportunities while maintaining our credit quality, strengthening our processes and infrastructure, and broadening our investor base among both retail and institutional investors.
I share those priorities completely.
My role at InRento is changing, my commitment is not
I also want to make one thing very clear: I am not leaving InRento.
I will remain actively involved in the company and will continue as Chairman of the Credit Committee.
Credit quality has always been at the heart of what we do, and this is an area where I want to continue contributing directly. As our portfolio grows, maintaining discipline in how we select, structure and monitor investments becomes even more important.
The strategic direction of InRento also remains unchanged.
We will continue connecting European investors with carefully selected, real-estate-backed investment opportunities. We will continue focusing primarily on income-generating and value-creating real estate where there is tangible collateral, a realistic business plan and a high margin of safety.
And we will continue choosing quality over volume.
In our business, growth for the sake of growth can be dangerous. I would much rather see us reject ten opportunities and finance one strong project than lower our standards simply to increase volume.
That philosophy will not change.
Building for the next stage
Our immediate focus will remain on the markets where we are already active.
Across our eight markets, there is still significant potential, both from investors looking for real-estate-backed fixed-income investments and from developers looking for reliable financing partners.
As we grow, we will continue investing in local expertise, partnerships, technology and automation. The goal is not simply to become bigger. It is to build an organisation capable of serving more investors, introducing more institutional-grade opportunities and financing more high-quality projects without compromising the quality of our underwriting, risk management or investor experience.
This is particularly important in our sector.
Trust takes years to build and very little time to lose. Every platform operating irresponsibly damages confidence in the wider industry.
For us, the answer has always been the same: discipline, transparency and accountability.
That means carefully assessing every project, looking not only at the value of the pledged collateral, but also at the borrower's financial discipline and reputation, the feasibility of the project, its safety margin and potential exit scenarios.
It also means communicating openly with investors, not only when things are going well, but especially when circumstances become more difficult.
Thank you
There is one group of people I particularly want to thank today: our clients.
Thank you for your trust.
When people invest through InRento, they are trusting us with something very real. That responsibility has never been something I have taken lightly.
People often say that you grow when you are given more responsibility. Looking back, I think there is a lot of truth in that.
Building InRento and carrying the responsibility of running it has shaped me enormously as a person. It has forced me to make difficult decisions, learn from mistakes, think further ahead and understand that leadership is not about having control over everything yourself.
Quite the opposite.
At some point, leadership becomes about building a company that can grow beyond you.
Seeing our team take ownership of InRento's standards and culture, seeing Bernardas grow into the leader he is today, and seeing the company develop from an idea into a European investment platform makes me extremely proud.
This leadership transition is a reflection of that progress. Bernardas and I have built much of InRento's recent growth together, and I have complete confidence in him taking responsibility as CEO and leading the company forward, while I continue contributing to the areas where I can create the most value.
Most importantly, we will continue building InRento on the same values that have shaped the company from the beginning: transparency, precision, ownership and a long-term focus.
Gustas Germanavičius
Founder of InRento
Chairman of the Credit Committee
