Over the past ten years, Andrea Reynolds has helped hundreds of SMEs in across industries with their fundraising efforts, closing deals worth hundreds of millions of Euro. With the launch of Swoop, however, Andrea says she is only just getting started.
Andrea grew up in Ireland, the youngest daughter of the late former Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. After graduating from University College Dublin with an Economics degree, she joined KPMG, where she qualified as a Chartered Accountant, working with large corporate businesses including Ryanair and Aircraft Leasing. She later joined KPMG’s management consultancy division in London.
Andrea went on to set up her own corporate finance consultancy, with the aim to help small businesses understand the funding landscape and match them with suitable funding opportunities.
Andrea realised that if she could create a technology platform that would compress the funding process for SMEs, she could reduce the admin, shorten the decision-making time and intelligently match investors based on customer profiles.
And the idea for Swoop was born.
Tell us more about Swoop.
Swoop is a platform matching 1000+ providers of finance and savings to SMEs in a hassle-free, time-saving way. SMEs and their trusted advisors can quickly see their funding options as well as identify savings on expenditure such as utilities, foreign exchange, and banking.
The platform is suitable for sole traders, micro, small, and medium businesses to instantly understand their financial position and spending habits and easily access the loans, grants, equity investors, and savings bespoke to their profile, wherever they are located in the world.
Swoop’s own successful growth is a great case study of what is possible with the right funding, having grown through a combination of private investment, debt, and grant funding. It recently closed a €6.3 million Series A funding round and will focus on international expansion. With offices in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and Canada, the plan now is to further expand into the US and other markets.
Swoop’s growth is tracking at 450% this year and it will be the same next year. To date, Swoop has facilitated lending of around €600m to small and medium-sized firms. The new funding will help the business expand staff from a team of 60 currently to 80 by the end of the summer.
What has been your biggest learning since becoming an entrepreneur/ business leader?
Always start raising cash when you have cash. While things are going well and you are managing cash flow well, that’s the time to look to raise.
If you leave it too late, funding providers can see the potential cash flow tension arising and even if they fund it, that capital will be more expensive than had you raised it earlier. So always think about the best time to go, and that time is when you are in a position of strength.
How do you motivate people to go the extra mile?
It’s not hard to motivate the Swoop team because they all absolutely believe in our mission. They see the tangible benefits we bring to business owners and how that in itself positively impacts communities. When our team hears about the customer that made payroll because of Swoop, or the customer who was able to win a big contract because of Swoop, that is motivation in itself.
We are enabling small and medium-sized businesses to access the capital they require to survive and grow. That’s powerful. But if the team ever needs motivation, I remind them of the impact their work is having on the world.
What gets you up in the morning? What motivates you?
I’ve been helping businesses get funded and grow for over a decade, and now we can scale that ability through technology. When I see all of the phenomenal business owners that we meet every day, it is just so inspiring! I walk into supermarkets and see these brands that were on their first production run when we first got them funded and there they are covering the shelves because they have grown so much. I feel so proud that we played some small part in their journey. So, it’s never hard to get out of bed for that!
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you.
Success is when, no matter where they are in the world, any business owner can access the insights and funding they require to grow their business. I think anyone that has a good business has a fundamental right to the same opportunities as a business located in central London, for example. Thankfully, technology and data can make that a reality.
What is some of the advice you give to aspiring women leaders?
I would advise aspiring women to just go with your gut and remain confident about it. We analyse and we think things through, and I think that is a strength. But don’t allow analysis to stop you from following your gut instinct.
What are your future plans to sustain the company’s success?
Swoop is going to diversify into other territories to reduce specific economic impacts.
Our team is continuing to broaden the product range for business funding needs.
Finally, we will scale our infrastructure to ensure that we maintain process discipline as we grow.
Website: swoopfunding.com
