Linked Finance reaches record monthly milestone of €5m+ in lending to Irish SMEs
Linked Finance, Ireland’s leading peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platform, is on track for a record year, having delivered the strongest monthly lending volume in the platform’s 7-year history. The company lent €5.5m in July, over treble the level of lending in July 2020 signalling a rebound from the negative business sentiment at the peak of the pandemic.
In July Linked Finance lent money to 40+ different SMEs, with an average loan size of €136,000, with credit decisions taking 24 hours or less upon documents being submitted.
Year to date Linked Finance has issued over €21.6m in loans, compared to €19m for the full year in 2019. The company has seen strong growth in lending across all sectors, in particular among those reopening their operations following the easing of Covid restrictions, particularly the wholesale and retail trade, construction and manufacturing.
In January, Linked Finance was amongst the first approved non-bank lenders to offer loans under the government’s Covid-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme (CCGS). Since then the company has been awarded two furthers allocations of additional CCGS funding and is set to continue disrupting the market with the speed and simplicity of its loan offering. The platform also offers a new Recharge SMEs loan which provides 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.
Niall O’Grady, CEO of Linked Finance. Pic. Bryan Meade 17/02/2021
Niall O’Grady, CEO of Linked Finance, said: “We are delighted to report record performance in July, with strong demand for loans from businesses looking to restock and reopen as the economy begins its recovery from the Covid shock. The SME market is now clearly starting the process of recovery, although different categories are at very different stages in their recovery.
Our Recharge SMEs loan allows companies to access up to €50,000 to support their immediate needs and help them to get back trading, while the CCGS is designed to offer low cost working capital and capital expenditure loans for businesses affected by Covid-19.
At Linked Finance we offer SME customers a range of options for businesses looking to access finance fast and efficiently in a seamless online process. Every SME in the country should have an alternative lender to compare to the banks”
Since its establishment Linked Finance has grown rapidly to deliver over €162m to over 2,800 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.
