Its commitment to customers with a personalised service has positioned Capitalflow as a leading specialist lender to businesses in Ireland

By the end of 2024, Capitalflow had reached a total of over €1.8bn in lending advanced to Irish businesses.

It has doubled customer lending since 2022.

This robust growth is set to continue, with Stephen Byrne, chief commercial officer, expecting it to place more than €400m of lending in the Irish SME market in 2025.

“We are planning for continued further growth over the next couple of years on our course to doubling our business and substantially investing in our team,” he says.

“We see opportunities to support our customers in meeting their existing needs and working with new customers in Ireland.”

Since its inception in 2015, Capitalflow has focused on providing fast, flexible finance options for Irish businesses, offering funding ranging from €10,000 up to €35m.

This has supported businesses in the acquisition of everything from equipment and vehicles to investments in property.

On the property side, Capitalflow acquired a commercial property loan book previously owned by Lunar Commercial Mortgages DAC last February.

This purchase represents a loan portfolio of €122m — comprising borrowers with investment properties across residential, leisure and commercial assets — and brought Capitalflow’s overall loan book to €900m at the end of 2024.

A people-first ethos supported by technological innovation is core to how Capitalflow operates, explains Byrne.

“A nationwide network of relationship managers, brokers and partners ensures a tailored service and accessibility for customers across Ireland.

“People supported by technology streamlines the journey for both customers and partners.

“We take the time to listen to our customers and think outside the box in terms of finding solutions to match their needs.

“That’s often a rarity in finance — we have no one-size-fits-all.

“We’ll also move fast and have honest conversations with customers, letting them know quickly if we can support their proposal or not; we know that time is money for many of our customers and giving them a quick decision is something they really appreciate.”

Capitalflow’s acquisition by Dutch digital bank bunq in 2021 has provided the company with access to liquidity and capital, facilitating its growth trajectory into 2025, according to Byrne.

“We anticipate launching new products for individual borrowers in 2025, on the back of our application to the Central Bank of Ireland for a retail credit licence.

“This will offer more choice and competition in the market, which we expect will be welcomed by many of our customers,” he says.

Photo: Stephen Byrne, Chief Commercial Officer, Capitalflow