PeerBerry Review 2026: €51 Million Frozen by a War, and Every Euro Came Back

In February 2022, war broke out in Ukraine, and €51.4 million of PeerBerry investors' money was suddenly stuck in loans in Russia and Ukraine. Many investors expected to lose a large part of it. Instead, PeerBerry and its lenders paid it back month by month, and on 16 December 2024 the last euro arrived, with interest.

That story says a lot about PeerBerry: it's not the most regulated platform, and it's not the highest-paying one, but it has kept its promises when it mattered. In this review we look at how PeerBerry works, what actually protects your money, what investors really earn, and the risks you should still understand in 2026.

In one sentence: PeerBerry lets you lend small amounts to dozens of lending companies for about 9–11% a year, and if a borrower is more than 60 days late, the lending company buys the loan back from you.

Our verdict
PeerBerry is one of the most trusted P2P platforms in Europe: €3.5 billion funded, about 124,000 investors, no fees and no investor losses so far, even after the 2022 war test. But it isn't licensed, much of the money depends on one lender group (Aventus), about half the portfolio has no group guarantee, and real returns are closer to 9% than the advertised 11%. A solid core P2P platform for experienced investors, as long as P2P stays a small part of your portfolio.

PeerBerry at a glance

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How PeerBerry works

The simple version

PeerBerry is a marketplace, like a farmers' market for loans. The "farmers" are lending companies in places like Lithuania, Poland, Spain, Moldova or Kazakhstan. They have already given loans to people and businesses, and they come to PeerBerry to sell slices of those loans. You buy a slice for as little as €10, and every repayment the borrower makes sends a little interest back to you.

1. A lending company (PeerBerry calls it a "lender") gives a loan to a borrower.
2. It lists part of that loan on PeerBerry.
3. You invest manually or let auto-invest do it for you, from €10 per loan.
4. You receive interest and principal (the money you lent) as the borrower repays.
5. If the borrower is more than 60 days late, the lender buys back your slice with the interest earned so far.

There are about 36 lenders in 17 countries, offering:

• Short-term consumer loans: about 30 days, repaid in one go at the end.
• Long-term consumer and business loans: repaid monthly over months or years.
• Real estate loans: mostly to Lithuanian property developers. They now make up about half of all the money on the platform.
• Leasing loans: financing for cars and equipment.

Explain it back: PeerBerry sells you small pieces of loans that lending companies have already made, and those companies promise to buy them back if a borrower falls 60 days behind.

The 2022 test: when a war froze €51 million

This is the most important chapter in PeerBerry's history, so let's look at it closely.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, 12 lenders with loans in Russia and Ukraine could no longer pay normally. In total, €51.4 million of investors' money was affected.

• The usual 60-day buyback was paused. Instead, the lender groups agreed to repay investors in monthly instalments.
• The plan took about 34 months, and PeerBerry missed two announced repayment schedules along the way.
• On 16 December 2024, the last payment arrived. Investors got back everything, including interest.

The simple version

Imagine lending money to a friend whose shop suddenly has to close because of a disaster. He can't pay you back on the agreed day. A dishonest friend disappears. A good friend says: "I can't pay it all now, but I'll pay you every month until we're even," and then actually does it, even if it takes longer than promised.

That's what happened here. PeerBerry's lenders behaved like the good friend. But notice the lesson too: the buyback didn't work as written during the crisis. It was replaced by a slower payment plan. A promise is only as strong as the company behind it, and in a real emergency, "60 days" can become "almost three years".

Explain it back: In 2022 the war froze €51.4 million, the buyback was paused, and investors were repaid in monthly instalments over almost three years, in full and with interest.

What protects your money?

PeerBerry has two layers of protection, and they don't cover the same loans.

1. The buyback guarantee (all loans). If a borrower is more than 60 days late, the lender must buy the loan back. This protects you from the borrower not paying. It does not protect you if the lender itself gets into trouble.

2. The group guarantee (about half of the loans). The lenders of the Aventus Group and Gofingo Group guarantee each other. If one company in the group can't honour its buyback, the others should step in.

Here's the catch: about 51% of the money (roughly €81 million of €159 million) is with lenders that have no group guarantee, mainly the real estate lender SIB Group (about €54 million), Lithome (about €18 million) and NovaLend in Poland (about €8 million). For these loans you rely on the buyback of that one company.

A few more details in the small print:

• Both guarantees can be affected by force majeure (events nobody controls, like a war), which is exactly what happened in 2022.
• Your uninvested cash sits in PeerBerry's company bank accounts, not in a personal account in your name, and it's not a protected bank deposit.
• PeerBerry is not licensed and there is no investor compensation scheme (a fund that pays investors back if a firm fails). Its sister platform Crowdpear does have an EU crowdfunding licence, but PeerBerry itself doesn't.

The simple version

Think of a buyback as a seatbelt and the group guarantee as an airbag. The seatbelt (buyback) is in every car. The airbag (group guarantee) is only in about half of them. Both help a lot in a normal accident, but neither makes the car crash-proof, and in a really big crash, like 2022, they work more slowly than you'd hope.

Explain it back: Every loan has a buyback, only about half also has a group guarantee, and neither is a guarantee from a regulator or a bank.

Returns: advertised vs real

PeerBerry's homepage shows an average return of about 11% a year. That number includes loyalty bonuses, and real investors usually earn less.

• Interest on new loans in 2026 is mostly 8–10% a year.
• Independent trackers show a median investor return of about 9.1–9.3% (based on more than 300 real portfolios).
• On average about 4% of investors' money sits uninvested, because good loans are snapped up quickly and auto-invest works in a queue. Money that waits in your account earns nothing. This is called cash drag.

What does that mean in euros? On €5,000 for one year:

The difference between the advertised and the real number is about €85–130 a year on €5,000. Not dramatic, but worth knowing before you compare platforms. Over many years, those gaps grow thanks to compound interest.

Loyalty bonuses

PeerBerry pays extra interest on new investments if your portfolio is large enough:

New investors can also get a small welcome bonus (recently 0.5% for the first 90 days). Check the current terms when you sign up.

Explain it back: The 11% headline includes bonuses, most investors actually earn about 9%, and cash waiting in your account lowers that further.

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Getting your money out

Most PeerBerry loans are short, so money comes back often. Since 15 January 2026 there is also a secondary market (a place where investors buy and sell existing loans from each other):

• No fees for buyers or sellers.
• You sell whole investments only, at face value or at a discount of up to 50%.
• Offers expire after 14 days, and it works on the website only, not in the app.

Withdrawals to your bank account are free, up to €15,000 per transaction, and usually arrive within a few working days.

Who is behind PeerBerry?

PeerBerry is run by Peerberry d.o.o., registered in Croatia, with its team in Vilnius, Lithuania. The CEO is Arūnas Lekavičius. Half of the company belongs to Andrejus Trofimovas, who is also the CEO of Aventus Group, the biggest lender group on the platform.

Aventus Group says it made a net profit of €95.7 million in 2025 and had about €225.7 million in equity at the end of 2025 (equity is what a company owns minus what it owes). By September 2026 it reported equity of about €275.5 million. These are the group's own figures, and its accounts are not audited under international standards (IFRS).

PeerBerry itself is a small company: its net profit fell from about €579,000 in 2024 to about €15,000 in 2025, which it says was due to spending on two new projects.

Conflict of interest: the same person co-owns the platform and runs its biggest lender. That made the 2022 rescue possible, but it also means a lot depends on one group.

The risks you should understand

• No licence and no compensation scheme. No regulator supervises PeerBerry as an investment platform.
• Concentration. Aventus supplies 24 of the 36 lenders, and one real estate group (SIB) holds about a third of the money.
• About half the portfolio has no group guarantee. For those loans, you depend on a single lender's buyback.
• Real estate exposure. About half of the money is in property loans, mostly in Lithuania. A property downturn would hit a large part of the platform.
• Emerging markets. Some lenders work in countries like Kazakhstan, Kenya and Colombia, where economic and legal risks are higher. Several individual lenders have been fined by their local regulators.
• Force majeure. As 2022 showed, guarantees can be paused in a crisis.
• Cash drag. Uninvested money earns nothing, and it isn't a protected deposit.

Pros and cons

Who is PeerBerry for?

PeerBerry suits you if you:

• already have an emergency fund and a solid base, such as ETFs
• want a simple, low-cost P2P platform with a long track record
• are happy with about 9% a year and understand it isn't guaranteed
• will spread your P2P money across several platforms

It's not a savings account and not for money you may need urgently. Compare it with Bondora Go & Grow for daily access, LANDE for loans backed by land, or see all options in our comparison of 12 European P2P platforms.

How to start

1. Sign up with your email and verify your identity.
2. Transfer money from your bank account (minimum €10 per loan).
3. Set up auto-invest: choose interest rate, loan term and countries, and decide whether you only want loans with a group guarantee.
4. Check your account now and then to make sure your cash isn't sitting idle.

PeerBerry doesn't withhold tax. You declare the interest in your own country.

Frequently asked questions

Is PeerBerry safe?

It has an excellent track record, and investors have not lost money so far, even after 2022. But it isn't licensed, there's no compensation scheme, and the protections depend on the lending companies. Treat it as a medium-risk investment.

What happened to PeerBerry during the war in Ukraine?

€51.4 million of loans from 12 lenders was frozen in 2022. The buyback was paused and replaced by monthly instalments. The last payment arrived on 16 December 2024, and investors received everything, including interest.

How much can I earn on PeerBerry?

New loans pay about 8–10% a year, and the median investor earns about 9.1–9.3%. The advertised 11% includes loyalty bonuses.

Can I sell my PeerBerry loans early?

Yes, since January 2026 on the free secondary market, as long as someone buys them. You can also offer a discount to sell faster.

Final verdict

PeerBerry's biggest strength isn't its interest rate. It's its behaviour under pressure: when a war froze €51 million, investors were paid back in full. Add no fees, a €10 minimum and a new secondary market, and you get one of the most reliable P2P platforms in Europe.

Our view: a good core P2P platform for experienced investors who expect about 9% a year, not 11%. Prefer loans with a group guarantee if you want extra safety, keep an eye on idle cash, and never let P2P lending become the main part of your portfolio.

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