Linked Finance has launched a new lending product that enables businesses to unlock their daily cashflow from card payments as a source of financing.

Merchant Cash Advance allows businesses to borrow a lump sum and then repay it gradually through a percentage of their daily card receipts.

Loans can range from €10,000 to €150,000 with repayments made over a period of up to 12 months. Interest rates start at 4% per annum.

Borrowers will be assessed under Linked Finance’s lending eligibility review and receive a decision in under 24 hours. Businesses must have been trading for two years and have over €100,000 in annual turnover.

The lender has partnered with payments software firm Fire for Merchant Cash Advance.

In Association with

Businesses do not need to change their bank in order to avail of this new line of credit, though a  changeover of the merchant settlement account is required.

Linked Finance CEO Niall O’Grady (pictured) commented: “With the rapid increase in our use of cards for payment, the  launch of Merchant Cash Advance offers SMEs a flexible way of accessing cash that can be repaid in a way that is directly tied to the business’s trading trends.

“It is a proven success story for international online retailers, so we are delighted to bring it to it to the Irish online retail sector, particularly hospitality and services.

“Daily repayments are made automatically out of card sales, leaving business owners free to focus on growing their business. Working alongside our technology provider fire.com represent  two successful Irish fintech businesses coming together to disrupt the incumbent operators.”

O’Grady anticipates that the finance offering will appeal to businesses that receive a significant proportion of their sales through debit or credit card payment, either in-store or online, such as retail stores, beauty salons, restaurants, pubs, and also services like gyms where memberships are processed using card payments.

According to the Central Bank, €61bn was spent at point of sale on cards in 2021, up 18% on the previous year. Transaction volumes increased by 21%, with over 1.5 trillion payments made on the 7.5m credit and debit cards used in Ireland.