From left: Linked Finance CEO Niall Dorrian and Big Red Cloud CEO Marc O’Dwyer. Image: Conor McCabe Photography.
Celebrations are in order for Linked Finance as it passes the 1,000th loan mark.
Ireland’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) platform, Linked Finance, has just funded its 1,000th loan for an Irish SME.
The loan sees €100,000 raised for accounting software specialists Big Red Cloud, in order to support increased marketing activity in the year ahead.
Linked Finance – a P2P leader
Since its launch in 2013, Linked Finance has provided loans to Viking Splash Tours, Lolly & Cooks and Murphy’s Ice Cream, among others.
It reports a healthy state of affairs when it comes to lending levels, with total loans in the first half of 2017 up 243pc to €11.4m.
‘I firmly believe that P2P lending will become a mainstay for Irish SMEs’
– MARC O’DWYER
Niall Dorrian, CEO of Linked Finance, said: “This 1,000th loan is another important milestone in our development.
“It’s another step on our journey to make P2P lending as popular in Ireland, as it already is in more developed markets like the US and the UK.
“We’ve come a long way since we funded our first loan in 2013 but really, we’re just getting started. We understand that easy access to finance is vital to the success of ambitious Irish firms like Big Red Cloud.”
The benefits of P2P lending
Dorrian also discussed the benefits a company such as Linked Finance can offer to smaller businesses that are tight on resources: “We also know many great local firms find it too difficult and time-consuming to access credit from traditional sources.
“We want to help bridge that funding gap and to make P2P lending the ‘go-to’ finance option for any Irish SME with plans to grow.”
Marc O’Dwyer, CEO of Big Red Cloud, was keen to experience P2P lending and to see how it could benefit the company’s clients.
“It is great to see innovative funding solutions like this making progress in Ireland and I firmly believe that P2P lending will become a mainstay for Irish SMEs.”
P2P lending has really taken off in Ireland, with Linked Finance being a prime success story.
The company has seen lending effectively double each year with more than 16,000 registered users. It aims to make P2P a first choice among even more Irish SMEs as it continues growing.
