Swoop Funding
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| Private | |
| Industry | Financial technology |
| Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Andrea Reynolds, Ciaran Burke |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Area served | United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Canada, United States |
Key people | Andrea Reynolds (CEO), Ciaran Burke (COO) |
| Services | Business loans, equity investment, grants, cost-saving services |
Number of employees | ~80 (2022) |
| Website | swoopfunding |
Swoop Finance Limited (trading as Swoop Funding) is a British financial technology company that operates an online business finance platform. Founded in 2017, the company connects small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with lenders, equity investors, and grant providers. The platform uses open banking technology..[1][2] to aggregate financial data and match businesses with potential sources of finance. Swoop is headquartered in London, and has operations in Ireland, Canada, Australia, South Africa[3], and the United States, and have been recognised for their service[4].
History
Swoop was established in 2017 by Andrea Reynolds[5], who is chief executive officer, and Ciaran Burke[6], who serves as chief operating officer. In 2019, the company received £5 million from the United Kingdom’s Banking Competition Remedies fund, followed by a further £2.5 million in 2021.[7]
In June 2022, Swoop secured approximately £5.4 million (€6.3 million) in a Series A funding round[citation needed], with participation from Velocity, Arab Bank Ventures, IAG, and WeHo Ventures.[8] At that point, the company reported having 75,000 businesses registered on its platform and around 80 employees. In early 2025, it completed an additional “Series A-plus” funding round of about €6 million to support international expansion.[9]
In 2023, Swoop was named in the FinTech 50 – UK’s most innovative financial tech creators for 2023[10]. In 2023, Swoop also placed first in the Deloitte UK Technology Fast 50 list of high-growth technology firms.[11] This was also the first time a female-founded firm had topped the Deloitte Fast 50[12]
Co-founder Andrea Reynolds was shortlisted for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award in Ireland in 2024[13] and received the Irish Tatler Women of Business Award[14] the same year.
Services
Swoop functions as a financial broker rather than a direct lender. Its platform uses open banking application programming interfaces (APIs) to collect data from business bank accounts, accounting software, and credit files, which it analyses to match SMEs with finance providers. The company also offers services aimed at reducing operational costs, such as comparing energy tariffs and bank accounts, and provides tools for monitoring expenditure.[15]
Swoop is also part of the Microsoft for Startups Founders[16] trusted partners hub, alongside Forecastr, Yoodli, Ansarada, E.B. Howard Consulting, and WE.VESTR. In 2023, it was announced that Sage had partnered with Sage globally, to 'revolutionise' access to business finance[17]. They also partner with a number of Chambers of commerce[18]to make access to funding easier for businessess.
References
- ↑ Clawson, Trevor. "Open Access - How A Corporate Finance Platform For SMEs Is Using Open Banking To Improve Outcomes". Forbes. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
- ↑ "From Chatbots to Agents: How AI Is Taking Action in Banking". fintechly.com/. 2026-02-03. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ↑ "Irish money swoops into SA, Africa". TimesLIVE. Archived from the original on 2025-08-13. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ "Swoop is rated "Excellent" with 4.7 / 5 on Trustpilot". Trustpilot. 2025-08-28. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ Brady, Niall (2019-08-24). "How taoiseach's daughter Andrea Reynolds is funding small businesses in one fell Swoop". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ Sherman, Jason (2025-06-23). "$2B+ in SME Funding Secrets Every Business Owner Should Know with Ciaran Burke". Medium. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
- ↑ "Irish fintech Swoop awarded £5m under RBS bailout fund scheme". The Irish Times. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "Andrea Reynolds-led Swoop valued at €30m by fundraise". Irish Independent. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "Swoop founder will not take fintech success for granted". The Times. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ Funding, Swoop (2019-09-20). "FinTech 50 – UK's most innovative financial tech creators for 2023". ResponseSource Press Release Wire. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
- ↑ "Fast 50 Winners 2023". Deloitte. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ "Swoop Becomes First Female-Founded Firm to Win Deloitte Fast 50". 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2025-09-03.
- ↑ Keeley, Fiona. "EY Entrepreneur of the Year profiles: 2024". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2025-08-15.
- ↑ "ANDREA REYNOLDS|Tatler Women of the Year Awards". Retrieved 2025-08-15.
- ↑ "Swoop Funding: How UK SMEs can put themselves in the best position to secure finance". AllTopStartups. 3 July 2025. Retrieved 14 August 2025.
- ↑ Startups, Microsoft for (2023-10-18). "Introducing startup-friendly offers from trusted partners in Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub". Microsoft for Startups Blog. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
- ↑ "Swoop and Sage Unveil Global Partnership to Revolutionise Business Funding and Cost-Savings Solutions". www.sage.com. Retrieved 2025-08-29.
- ↑ Jaycocks, Tom. "Chamber Finance Finder". Milton Keynes Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved 2026-02-05.
External links
This article "Swoop Funding" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.