Peer-to-peer lender Linked Finance, which is seeking to become the biggest non-bank lender to SMEs in Ireland, reported a €1.2 million net loss last year as its liabilities rose from €600,000 to €1.8 million. Accounts recently lodged in the Companies Registration Office by Linked P2P Limited show the firm’s accumulated loss rose to €2.2 million from €1.08 million in the 12 months to the end of April 2016.

Founder Peter O’Mahony established Linked Finance in 2013 when he raised €350,000 from family and friends, along with €200,000 from Enterprise Ireland. The company, which earlier this year agreed a deal with Paris-based Eiffel Investment Group to boost access to funding, enables small companies and sole traders to raise between €5,000 and €250,000 via its platform.

Linked Finance plans to lend more than €250 million to 5,000 businesses over the next couple of years. As of this month, more than 900 SMEs have raised finance through the company’s platform, which has more than 15,000 registered lenders.

Staff costs

Since it launched in March 2013 more than €29 million has been bid on the platform with some €9.3 million repaid to lenders.

The latest accounts show staff costs more than doubled last year to €569,668 as directors’ remuneration almost halved to €22,500.

The company lent €10 million last year, up 94 per cent on a year earlier. It posted particularly strong growth in the final quarter, with lending up 158 per cent following the introduction of a new fixed-rate loan.

During the fourth quarter it completed Ireland’s biggest peer-to-peer loan last December, raising €250,000 in two tranches for serviced office and flexible workspace provider Iconic Offices.

The company followed up on this by recording its biggest quarter in the history of the platform in the first three months of 2017.

Linked Finance originated more than €5.1 million in loans in the first three months of this year, up 43 per cent on the previous quarter and a sum that is more than the firm raised in the whole of 2015.