If you’ve spent much time browsing classified ads online for farm machinery recently – and let’s be honest, who hasn’t – you are sure to have come across offers from a company called Loanitt to “get finance approval” for whatever piece of equipment you might be metaphorically kicking the tyres of.

Recently the Irish Farmers Journal travelled to the company’s headquarters in Kilkenny to meet the founders and find out more about the business that is becoming so prominent in the loan market in Ireland.

Loanitt was started in February 2019 from a spare room in Terenure by John Duggan and Padraig Nolan, both of whom already had considerable experience in the finance industry.

The pair relied on their own savings, and took advantage of relationships they already had with car dealers in Ireland to kickstart the business.

As John explained, “the market in Ireland in 2019 was ripe for a financial intermediation business like Loanitt. The legacy banks were becoming less interested in the traditional day-to-day customer facing lending model, while consumers had no easy way of comparing the different offers available.”

Loanitt say they have streamlined the application process and work with multiple lenders in Ireland to get each borrower the best deal.

The company’s founders are quick to point out their strong customer service offering, the success of which is reflected in their high level of repeat custom and positive reviews on Trustpilot.

Competition success

Whatever about customers, the business model has clearly impressed both Enterprise Ireland and investors.

Through success in competitions like Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur and National Enterprise Awards the company won designation as a High Potential Start Up (HPSU) from Enterprise Ireland.

A HPSU is, according to Enterprise Ireland’s website, a start-up business with the potential to develop an innovative product or service for sale on international markets and the potential to create 10 jobs and €1m in sales within three years of starting up.

The designation, as well as providing earlier than normal access to funding, also meant there were opportunities to get investment from the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN), a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland, where early stage companies can access angel investors across the island of Ireland.

According to its website, the HBAN comprises of angel investors who are generally high net worth individuals providing finance (usually between €25,000 and €250,000) to start ups at an earlier stage than many venture capital funds are able to invest.

HBAN and Enterprise Ireland invested €570,000 in Loanitt in 2020. At the time the company employed 15 people, a number that has doubled since.

Initial focus

While Loanitt’s initial focus was on car loans, there have been expansions into other areas – such as mortgages and financing of agricultural equipment. With both the founders coming from farming backgrounds there was always an appetite to get into agricultural business.

As part of the customer service offering, there are four full-time dedicated agricultural loan advisers.

The rapid growth which has seen Loanitt become the largest financial intermediary in Ireland is showing no signs of slowing. There are plans to move into the unsecured lending market, with a deal expected to be announced soon with the credit union sector.

An expansion overseas is also on the cards, with the founders turning their sights on the UK market where they both learned the banking trade.

Whatever the longer term plans are, the founders of the company are to be congratulated for managing such a rapid expansion.

For other founders, there are lessons to be learned from how they succeeded in getting the right business backing and supports when needed to turn a good idea into a great success.