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Irish accountancy firm Big Red Cloud raises thousands in partnership with alternative-lending firm Flender.
Alternative-lending platform Flender has added another successful SME funding partnership to the pile, with Irish accountancy software company Big Red Cloud raising €31,500 in just 24 hours.
CEO of Big Red Cloud, Marc O’Dwyer, spoke of the campaign’s effectiveness and the future possibilities for SMEs to raise capital. “Not only has this campaign been effective, but it has been efficient – within 24 hours of opening the investment offering, we had our target amount.”
SMEs benefit from different lending models
O’Dwyer said it was encouraging to see the normalisation of alternative-lending models such as Flender as a credit option for SMEs and a novel opportunity for investors.
“As an indigenous Irish SME that has grown over the last 25 years – in good times and in bad – we recognise the importance of supporting SMEs in Ireland. That makes us very well placed to not only meet our clients’ demands, but to understand what they need to grow and to do all we can to help them get there,” he concluded.
Founder and chief commercial officer of Flender, Oli Cavanagh, said of the Big Red Cloud partnership: “As an investment offering, we were confident that their campaign would be a success. Simply put, they tick all the boxes for anyone looking to invest in an already established, and growing, Irish business.”
Targeted crowdfunding
More and more established companies and SMEs are looking to alternative-lending platforms to raise capital.
Flender’s particular method involves peer-to-peer lending in a targeted way, by focusing on relevant crowds for each fundraising campaign. To date, Flender has helped more than 50 SMEs in Ireland raise more than €2m in crowd finance, with lenders from 42 countries investing as well as local targeted lenders within Ireland.
In an interview with Siliconrepublic.com in January 2017, Cavanagh discussed the potential that platforms such as Flender represent for companies and investors alike.
For SMEs in particular, a lot of power lies in borrowers and lenders being able to “leverage their own social circles and networks” to secure funding; otherwise it would be a more difficult undertaking. Peer-to-peer lending means that unlocking funding fast for SMEs in Ireland is a lot more feasible.
