Entrepreneur Lex Gielen builds his career around the interests of other entrepreneurs. This translates into every company that the 31-year-old Eindhove resident sets up, from buying up outstanding invoices to providing mortgage loans. ‘It is a shame if the dreams of entrepreneurs have to be shelved due to practical obstacles.’
Lex Gielen heads Capilex, a financing company that provides loans to entrepreneurs using real estate as collateral. “With parents who both worked in education, the choice for entrepreneurship was striking. Yet entrepreneurship is apparently in my blood,” Gielen notes. ‘”I completed a bachelor’s degree in law, but I didn’t want to spend ten years working for someone else. Moreover, I attach great value to my freedom.”
Learned young
Before he entered the world of real estate, Lex Gielen already founded a number of other companies. ‘I started by founding Atlantis Financiers, the factoring company that I registered with the Chamber of Commerce when I was nineteen. Atlantis Financiers purchases unpaid invoices from entrepreneurs and then takes over the collection procedure. In this way we relieve entrepreneurs so that they can focus on running their business.’ Gielen soon expanded his business operations.
New company
“We grew into one of the largest providers of such factoring services in the Netherlands and Belgium,” Lex Gielen reflects. ‘The software we used to test the creditworthiness of customers also turned out to be extremely valuable. A new company soon emerged there: Paylex. In addition to creditworthiness, there was also a lot of demand for other data. Consider, for example, possible links with criminal organizations or the financing of terrorism. Providing money always remains a risky undertaking in a sense, but the systems we developed allowed us to identify the risks as accurately as possible.’
An adventurous side step
During the corona pandemic, his companies, like the rest of the Netherlands, are taking a hit, but one that leads to new paths. This is how Lex Gielen develops an interest in real estate. “Together with my business partner Luc van Laarhoven, we decided to explore the market,” says Lex Gielen. ‘We had the contacts and it seemed like a lucrative sector to us. However, it was immediately clear that I was not interested in renting out real estate, which seemed too labor intensive to me. I wanted the benefits of real estate, but not the burdens, that was a clear lesson for me.’
Capilex
This observation quickly led to a new business model for Lex Gielen: Capilex. ‘With Capilex we support the small and medium-sized enterprises segment. Simply put: we help SMEs by providing loans based on the equity in their home. Applying for a loan at the bank can take a very long time, often months. This is incredibly demotivating when you are setting up or expanding your business. With us the process only takes a few days. This speed is mainly due to the fact that we use AI technology, our service is fully automated. This gives us a big advantage over other financing companies. Our new way of working ensures that entrepreneurs can quickly get back to doing what they are good at: doing business,” he concludes.