Coffee Merchants UK

Robert Patrick, owner of Coffee Merchants UK, has previous experience of crowdlending, having successfully raised finance through another crowdlending platform at a time when there were very few companies in the market. When Robert was looking to obtain additional funding for the coffee pod machine around 18 months later, he discovered that there were many more companies who were now offering business loans through a crowdlending platform. One of the companies Robert discovered during his research was LendingCrowd.

Why they chose us

LendingCrowd stood out to Robert for two reasons. Firstly, due to the company being new to the market and its relatively small size, Robert felt this would likely result in a higher level of service and feel less like dealing with a ‘corporate’ finance company. Secondly, the funding criteria LendingCrowd offered were more flexible than those offered by competing platforms.

A happy ending

Two days after contacting LendingCrowd, Coffee Merchants UK’s pitch for funding went live. Rated as an A+ loan, attracting the lowest level of interest rate and risk, the company successfully reached their loan target of £53, 500 within 3 weeks of their pitch featuring on the loan market.

Securing the funding meant that Coffee Merchants UK was able to go ahead with the purchase of the new machine allowing the manufacture of ESE coffee pods, making the company one of only 3 suppliers in the UK and Ireland. Being able to produce ‘own brand’ coffee pods for itself and other companies is a huge boost to the business, providing it with greater control over its products and allowing it to consolidate its position as a leading UK supplier of ESE coffee pods.