Pretup - Risk and return review
Pretup - Returns and loss rates
Investment maturity
Pretup – Platform statistics 2026
45192
investors
Pretup – Pros & Cons
About Pretup
What it is
PretUp is a French crowdlending platform based in Nancy that has lent to small French businesses since 2015. It is run by UNITUP SAS, which also operates the older Unilend brand. Since 2015 it has financed 732 projects for €63.7 million, and 497 have been fully repaid (October 2026). It shows 45,192 registered lenders on its home page (October 2026); that counts sign-ups, not active lenders.
How it works
You lend from €20 per project to small French businesses, and occasionally to short property deals. Loans run 6 to 36 months, about two years on average, and are repaid monthly with interest. Each borrower gets a grade from A+ to D that sets the rate. You can pick loans yourself or use the free automatic investing tool. Less experienced investors may put at most €1,000 into one project unless they confirm they accept the higher risk.
Returns
PretUp publishes its returns step by step. The loans carry an average contract rate of 9.02% a year across all 732 projects since 2015. Because the loans are repaid bit by bit, the most lenders could earn if every loan were repaid on time is 6.77% a year (October 2026, up from 6.71% in August). After losses, counting every loan more than six months late or in court proceedings as lost, lenders have earned 4.87% a year across the whole book, before tax. The home page advertises up to 11% a year; that is a target, not a result.
Results vary by year. Loans made in 2021 show minus 6.39% a year after losses; those made in 2023 show 2.67%, and those from 2024 and 2025 about 8% and 10%, but these are young and have had less time to go wrong. French tax of about 30% is taken from interest.
Losses and defaults
Of all the money lent since 2015, 2.1% has been written off for good: €1.33 million on 47 projects (calculated from the platform's own figures, October 2026). A further €3.10 million on 51 projects, 4.9% of all money lent, is tied up in insolvency or court proceedings; if all of it were lost, total losses would be about 7%. In all, 98 of 732 projects (13.4%) are in proceedings or written off.
Under the EU crowdfunding rules PretUp publishes a yearly default rate: 6.43% of the loans made in 2025, after 8.02% in 2024, 5.07% in 2023 and 7.02% in 2022. There is no clear improving trend. It also publishes default rates by grade: A+ and A- loans have never defaulted, while some lower grades reach 25% in a year. One weak point: the lines for loans 0 to 6 months late and more than 6 months late show zero in every year, which is hard to believe and suggests late loans move straight to proceedings.
What secures your money
Security varies from loan to loan and is often light. Some business loans carry a personal guarantee from the director or a guarantee from Bpifrance, the French public bank; others have none. The property deal we checked (February 2026) had a first-rank mortgage. PretUp offers no guarantee fund, no buyback and no insurance, so losses fall on lenders.
When a borrower stops paying, PretUp handles recovery for lenders, through the courts if needed. It publishes no recovery rate. On the 47 written-off loans, €1.11 million of capital had been repaid against €1.33 million lost, about 45% (calculated from the platform's own figures, including repayments made before the default). For the investor this means: spread your money across many loans, because a failed borrower usually costs most of what is left on that loan.
Who runs it and its licence
UNITUP SAS, 5 rue Jacques Villermaux, Nancy, is authorised by the French financial markets regulator (AMF) as a European crowdfunding service provider for loans, number FP-2024-7, since 12 February 2024. Before that it was registered as a crowdfunding intermediary. It is small, with 6 to 9 staff. A new managing director was registered in December 2025, and the shareholder list is not public. We found no action by the regulator against it.
Fees
Lending is free for investors: no sign-up, entry, management or exit fee, and the automatic investing tool is free. Up to five withdrawals a year are free; more can be charged. PretUp earns its money from fees paid by borrowers.
Getting your money out
You get your money back only as borrowers repay, month by month, over the loan's term. There is no market to sell loans to other investors and no early exit. Cash that is repaid and not relent can be withdrawn.
Our view
Return: Low — at most 6.77% a year if every loan were repaid on time (October 2026), against an advertised 'up to 11%'. Risk: Medium (higher means more risk) — 2.1% of money lent has been written off and about 6% to 8% of each year's loans default; another 4.9% is in court proceedings. Risk-return: Very Low — after losses the platform's own figure is 4.87% a year before tax, a modest return for lending to small businesses with light security and no way out early.
Regulation
License / Regulation: UNITUP SAS (trade names PretUp and Unilend) is authorised by the French financial markets regulator (AMF) as a European crowdfunding service provider under Regulation (EU) 2020/1503, number FP-2024-7, since 12 February 2024, for arranging loans only. It is also registered as an agent of a payment service provider (ORIAS/ACPR 80944). Crowdfunding investments are not covered by any deposit guarantee or investor compensation scheme.
Functionality
For Investors
Useful Information
Yes. UNITUP SAS is authorised by the French financial markets regulator (AMF) as a European crowdfunding service provider for loans, number FP-2024-7, since 12 February 2024. Regulation does not protect you from borrowers failing to repay.
Lemonway, a payment institution supervised in France, holds lenders' money in wallets; it does not pass through PretUp's own bank accounts. Money already lent is owed by the borrowers.
€20 per project. Less experienced investors may put at most €1,000 into one project unless they confirm they accept the higher risk.
The loans carry 9.02% a year on average; the most lenders could earn with no defaults is 6.77% a year, and after losses they earned 4.87% a year before tax (October 2026). 2.1% of money lent has been written off, 4.9% is in court proceedings, and 6.43% of 2025's loans defaulted.
It depends on the loan, and security is often light: some business loans carry a personal guarantee from the director or a public-bank guarantee, others none; the property deal we checked had a first-rank mortgage. There is no guarantee fund, buyback or insurance. On written-off loans about 45% of the capital had come back, counting repayments before the default.
No. There is no market to sell loans, so you are repaid month by month over the term, about two years on average and up to 36 months.
None for normal use: no sign-up, entry, management or exit fee, and automatic investing is free. Up to five withdrawals a year are free. PretUp is paid by borrowers. Interest is taxed in France at about 30%.
If a borrower fails, PretUp handles recovery for lenders, through the courts if needed; what is not recovered is lost. If PretUp itself stopped, your loans are contracts with the borrowers and your cash is at Lemonway, but collecting repayments could be slow, and the company has fewer than ten staff.
The same company, UNITUP SAS, runs both. Unilend is an older brand whose loans PretUp manages; new lending happens under the PretUp name.
