Invest in Slovakia · Real estate fintech
Interim CTO, EU regulation and a redesign of an investment platform
When the CTO left we took over all development. Mangopay integration under EU 2020/1503 averted a shutdown; redesign and back-office rewrite took 3–4 months.
Project facts
Every engagement rests on a few checkable facts.
- Our role
- Interim CTO and a dedicated team
- Industry
- Real estate fintech
- Technology
- Meteor.js · Next.js · Astro · Mangopay · Veriff
- Services
- Interim IT & AI leadership · Custom software development
A platform without a CTO and with a single developer
Invest in Slovakia is a real-estate crowdfunding platform from Poprad, active since 2019. It connects investors with property owners seeking loans. Over EUR 15 million in property-backed investments has passed through the platform, with an average annual return of around 10%.
The trigger was the CTO leaving. The platform depended on a single developer, ran on an outdated framework with a Meteor.js core and carried security vulnerabilities. Techmates deployed a whole IT team led by a CTO and took over the development of the entire system, including budgeting. The first step was to stabilize the application and address the vulnerabilities.
Regulation could have stopped the platform
- EU Regulation 2020/1503 and new Slovak National Bank licensing made the existing single ČSOB bank-account setup non-compliant
- Non-compliance could have forced the platform to stop operating
- Previous providers had failed to deliver a compliant solution
- Knowledge of the system and its maintenance rested on one person
We took over the whole system, budget included
- Development of the entire system, including budgeting
- Leadership of the IT team in the CTO role
- Stabilizing the application and fixing the security vulnerabilities
- Preparing the platform for regulation and the redesign
Regulatory compliance without an interruption
We integrated Mangopay, a licensed payment institution, into the platform. We reused the existing Veriff KYC data, so investors did not repeat identity verification. For users with funds in the ČSOB account we built a migration path: accept the new terms and continue via Mangopay, or withdraw the funds.
Payment workflows were hard-coded to one bank account. We re-architected them so the platform met EU Regulation 2020/1503 and could keep operating without a pause.
A redesign that became a rewrite of half the system
A third-party agency delivered a new design and the client prepared a new product portfolio at the same time. A visual refresh turned into a refactoring of about half the system. We built a new landing page and Next.js and Astro frontends on the Meteor.js core. We simplified registration with custom KYC, redesigned the project listing and detail pages including tables and filters, and overhauled both the frontend and the backend of the back office.
We expanded the team with two tech leads, one architect and two full-stack developers. Despite changing requirements we delivered in an agile way and met the 3–4 month deadline set by a fintech event in the Czech Republic. That let the platform expand to the Czech market.
What changed
- Development capacity
- Before: 1 developerAfter: CTO + team, then an internal team
- EU Regulation 2020/1503
- compliant, no interruption of operations
- Back-office redesign and rewrite
- 3–4 months
- Investments facilitated (client figure)
- EUR 15+ million
A compliant platform, a Czech market and an internal team
Invest in Slovakia runs a platform compliant with EU Regulation 2020/1503 with no interruption of operations. Investors moved to Mangopay without repeating verification, the redesign and back-office rewrite were finished within the 3–4 month deadline and the platform entered the Czech market. Techmates also helped the client build an internal team that took over development.
Stack: Meteor.js as the application core, Next.js and Astro for the frontends, Mangopay for payments and Veriff for KYC.
Similar work, a different starting point
A description in your own words is enough to start.
Describe what is holding you back. Within two business days we get back to you with a first practical step.