Lender has raised over €1m for Kildare firms
Linked Finance, Ireland’s leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending company has raised over €1m for Kildare-based businesses.
36 Kildare businesses including Kelly's Mountain and Celbridge Playzone and The Academy Barber have raised funds through Linked Finance’s online lending platform to facilitate business growth.
Commenting on the funding, Pat Kelly, Owner, Celbridge Play Zone: ‘Our primary aim as a business is to provide a fun and safe environment for all the children and parents who use our facilities. With the help of Linked Finance we have been able to invest in improving our play area and ensuring, as always, that the customer’s needs come first. We have worked really hard to grow our reputation and provide our visitors with the highest possible level of customer service, this is something Linked Finance recognised in us, and threw their support behind us whole heartedly to make sure we could advance our business goals’
Niall Dorrian, CEO, Linked Finance said: ‘‘The purpose of our platform is to support great Irish businesses and provide them with quick and hassle-free access to funding so they can unlock their full potential. SMEs all over Ireland are in growth mode. Our platform connects Irish businesses with lenders who recognise the enormous potential and want to invest in them. We pride ourselves on providing an alternative to traditional bank lending. The Linked Finance model is fast, efficient and transparent, allowing Irish businesses to take control of their finances and meet their objectives. This is a model that works, and the number of Kildare businesses who have now completed three loans on the platform, such as Capcon Engineering, is testament to this. ”
Over the past four years, Linked Finance has facilitated over 800 loans to businesses all over Ireland. In its next phase of growth, Linked Finance is targeting to have lent over €350m to SMEs by the end of 2019. In late 2016, Linked Finance introduced a new fixed rate loan offering for SMEs, this has seen a move from a model where lenders “bid” the interest rate they would offer to a company seeking funds, to one where a fixed-rate is set at the beginning of the process.
The new approach reduces uncertainty for borrowers about the rate they will pay on loans, and makes the process much quicker, with the average loan closing in less than 30 hours.
Linked Finance brings a new viable alternative to borrowing from the banks, where people with savings can connect and lend to trustworthy businesses that wish to borrow. Linked Finance allows lenders to make a difference to Irish businesses and earn better interest rates while businesses are free to keep their focus on growing their business.