Linked Finance boosts loan size to €500,000 for Irish SMEs
Linked Finance, a leading lender to Irish SMEs, has increased its maximum loan size to €500,000 – becoming the only alternative lender to offer unsecured business loans at this scale.
The new loan is unique in the Irish market, meeting the needs of companies with more complex funding requirements and providing an attractive alternative to the complexities of asset financing, at a time when SMEs are facing serious pressures from rising energy and input costs.
Companies borrowing on the platform are attracted by the quick pace of decision-making, with the end-to-end process from initial application to receipt of funding taking as little as 48 hours. It also means lenders on the platform will benefit from a larger volume of companies to lend to.
At present, 40% of business loans issued by Linked Finance are to repeat customers, with a strong return rate. Average loan sizes have also increased from €90k to €107k (+19%) in the last 12 months.
Two companies who have already availed of the new €500,000 loan size are a leading financial advisory firm and a building contractor.
Linked Finance is responding to customer demand for larger loan sizes that can be accessed simply and speedily, entering a loan size segment of the market more typically occupied by traditional banks, but only with secured lending options.
Niall O’Grady, CEO of Linked Finance said: “Linked Finance is unique in the market through being able to offer loans of up to €500,000 on an unsecured basis. Our ability to deliver quick decisions through a simple, user-friendly application process is vital as business grapple with a complex business environment fraught with the uncertainty of rising input costs. The fact that 40% of the loans we issued this year are to repeat customers is a sign that our service is extremely popular with business owners who are happy to move an increasing portion of their credit requirements to Linked Finance as a serious alternative to traditional banks.”
Linked Finance has now provided more than 3,200 loans to ambitious Irish SME businesses in every county of the country, amounting to over €193m. Notable companies that have raised funding with Linked Finance in the past include The Rolling Donut, Lolly & Cooks, Murphy’s Ice Cream, Iconic Offices and the Irish Fairy Door Company.
P2P lending has now firmly established itself as an attractive asset class, with lenders typically earning annualised returns in excess of 8% across a diversified portfolio of on average over 50 loans.