Swoop COO Ciaran Burke and CEO Andrea Reynolds. Image: Swoop
A one-stop shop for SMEs to find funding, Irish-founded Swoop is hoping to increase revenue by 450pc in 2022.
Swoop, an Irish fintech company that helps SMEs source financing, has raised its own funding of €6.3m to accelerate its international expansion.
Founded in 2017, the start-up pitches itself as a one-stop shop for small and medium-sized businesses to find the right funding across loans, equity and grants, and to identify and make savings easier ‘in one fell swoop’.
To date, more than 75,000 businesses have used Swoop’s software platform to find £500m in funding.
The company has a Dublin base in Dogpatch Labs with 20 employees, as well as operations based in the UK, Australia and Canada.
It plans to increase its workforce from 60 to 80 by the end of summer, and expects its revenue to rise by 450pc this year.
Last October, Swoop raised £2.5m from a fund established by banking giant RBS under the Banking Competition Remedies scheme. It previously received £5m from the same scheme in 2019.
Andrea Reynolds, CEO and co-founder of Swoop, said the latest funding will be used for the fintech’s expansion in North America – with a particular focus on the US through its existing operations in Canada.
“Access to finance is the number one issue facing SMEs, but they have traditionally been an underserved customer segment,” said Reynolds, who previously spoke about the idea behind business at Silicon Republic’s Future Human event.
“Finance is data-driven and borderless. With the influx of new lenders into the market, Swoop is able to connect SMEs with the funding they need wherever they are in the world.”
The Series A funding round includes investment by UK VC firm Velocity, Arab Bank Ventures, IAG and WeHo Ventures in California. Swoop has also been funded by Enterprise Ireland and Irish angel investors.
Last month, the fintech partnered with ISME, the Irish SME organisation, to launch the Finance Finder portal. This new funding matching tool aims to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses in Ireland to access finance.
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