The Irish peer-to-peer lending platform’s funding round was led by its original venture capital backers Frontline Ventures, which was joined by a group of 28 individual investors who are all active on the Linked Finance platform.
The funding announcement follows the appointment of Michael Cawley as its new chairman.
The equity raise will provide Linked Finance with the resources needed to increase its sales and marketing activity as it looks to raise awareness of peer-to-peer lending in Ireland.
"It is fantastic that we have been able to practice what we preach, harnessing the power of the crowd to open this investment round to some of our most active users,” said Niall Dorrian, CEO of Linked Finance.
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“These lenders are people who know the platform inside out, they know what it's like to lend on the site and they really believe in what we do.
“It's great to have them on board, and also to have the continuing support of Frontline Ventures."
Linked Finance has lent over €34.5m (approximately £30.7m) to Irish SMEs since launching in 2013, with more than €16.9m (approximately £15m) being repaid to lenders.
“I’ve been actively lending to Irish businesses on Linked Finance for a number of years and I’m a big fan of the platform,” said David Holohan, an investor in the funding round and Linked Finance lender.
“So when the opportunity arose to take a stake in the business and help drive the growth of P2P lending in Ireland, it was an easy decision.”
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