Funding for when opportunity knocks

When brothers Tom & Ian Redmond wanted to raise finance to invest in their online offering and to increase their number of franchisees, they chose P2P lending through Linked Finance as the best way to go.

Divine Doors Ireland supply superior windows and doors of all types. They have also expanded their product offering into higher margin items such as stoves, doors, furniture and curtain poles. Recently Divine Doors has even begun franchising its successful business model.

Based in Glasnevin, Dublin 11, the business currently has one franchise on the Long Mile Road, Dublin 12, trading happily and successfully.

In 2015, Tom & Ian had two ambitious plans on how they could improve their online offering. Divine Doors Ireland allows customers the ability to customise an external door to their exact taste and order it online.

They wanted to develop this further to allow customers to do the same for interior doors and curtain poles. This was a big project which required investment in web development. Added to this, the brothers wanted to increase the number of franchises under the Divine Doors Ireland brand.

The building industry in general is expected to pick up again and with government budget plans to increase the number of housing units available in the coming years, Tom & Ian decided the time was right to invest. It can be hard for any business to secure the finance that will allow them to realise their ambitions, so finding the correct option is very important.

Traditional sources of finance aren’t always open to SMEs, even successful ones like Divine Doors. Even when they are willing to lend the process can be very long and require an onerous amount of paperwork.

It was when weighing up their options that Tom & Ian came across an exciting alternative to traditional loans. Linked Finance immediately caught their eye.

 

“The process of getting a loan was quick and easy and also promoted us to new customers. In the future if the business needs a loan again we’ll be definitely using Linked Finance.”

Ian Redmond
Divine Doors

 

Raising a loan through Linked Finance and its network of local lenders allowed Tom & Ian access to funds that they could use to get their ambitious plans off the ground, gaining them publicity and a new customer base along the way.

For Tom & Ian the process went very well. Their loan got approved and shortly after their loan request was up on wpengine.staging.linkedfinance.com.

Once a loan request goes ‘live’ on site it is promoted to Linked Finance’s broad network of individual lenders. Divine Doors Ireland proved a popular investment.

Tom & Ian were very happy with the overall process and outcome from their first foray into P2P lending. Since the loan, Divine Doors Ireland has continued to grow and looks set for a bright future.

“Linked Finance was very helpful. We got the sense that they genuinely care about businesses and business growth. There are so many more advantages through sourcing a loan with them.”

Tom Redmond
Divine Doors

 

 

If you've got plans to take your business to the next level, talk to Linked Finance. We can provide business loans of up to €300,000 to Irish SMEs. Fill in the form to apply now...