Linked Finance expands Covid lending scheme to €15m
Linked Finance, Ireland’s leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, has been awarded an additional €5m in funds under the government’s flagship Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS), and launched a new loan to help support the hospitality sector as it reopens.
They are also launching a new Recharge SMEs loan which will provide pubs, restaurants, accommodation providers, and cafes with a loan of up to €50,000 to help them reopen, restock and rehire as pandemic restrictions are eased. Hotels reopened from 2 June, and from 7 June bars and restaurants have reopened for outdoor service.
The term of the loan is 13 months, with no repayment due for the first month. It follows on from measures Linked Finance took last year to help the hospitality sector at the start of the pandemic when it applied a blanket two-month payment break to all its loans across the restaurant, bar, pub and hotel trades, alongside other flexible payment initiatives.
In January, Linked Finance became the first non-bank lender to offer loans through the CCGS. To date Linked Finance has already funded over €10m worth of loans to SME customers, underlining the success of alternative lenders participating in the scheme. Linked Finance has now been awarded of a second tranche of CCGS funds by the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI), bringing the total funds it has available under scheme to €15m.
Linked Finance has experienced a strong start to the year in its loan book and where non-CCGS lending is also included it has facilitated almost €13m in lending to SMEs across Ireland to the end of April of the year, a 19% YoY increase in lending despite the pandemic.
The company has seen strong growth in lending across all sectors, in particular among those returning to operations following the easing of restrictions, including wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing.
The CCGS is designed to offer low cost working capital and capital expenditure loans for businesses affected by Covid-19. Linked Finance can offer borrowers decisions on loans from €20,000 to €250,000 in under 24 hours from receiving the application. Niall O’Grady, CEO of Linked Finance, said: “We are delighted that Linked Finance has been approved for an additional €5 million in lending through the Government’s Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme. Being allocated a second tranches demonstrates the success of alternative lenders participating in the scheme, and shows the improving range of options there are for businesses looking to access finance fast and efficiently in a seamless online process.
With the hospitality sector reopening we are conscious that many businesses in the sector will require working capital to reopen, restock, rehire. Our new Recharge SMEs loan will allow companies to access up to €50,000 to support their immediate needs and help them to get back trading in what we hope will be a bumper summer for the industry.
Since the launch of the CCGS, Linked Finance has provided loans to ambitious local businesses in every county of the country. A regular Linked Finance borrower who has availed of a new loan through the CCGS scheme to is the Tara Slevin Group, a distributor of branded promotional products.
Eddie Slevin of Tara Slevin Group, said: “Linked Finance is was our chosen lender to benefit from the Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, due to its ability to deliver quick decisions through a simple, user-friendly application process. This seamless delivery has proved vital to our business when we needed to scale-up and replenish stock to meet a spike in customer demand and to grow our presence online. The customer service and support we received allowed us to take advantage of opportunities that we can’t afford to turndown”
Since its establishment Linked Finance has grown rapidly to deliver over €154m through over 2,800 loans to ambitious local businesses in every county in the country. Companies that have availed of lending through Linked Finance include: Tara Slevin, The Agile Executive, Lolly & Cooks, and Murphy’s Ice Cream.