Founder and Lightning, a company that helps non-specialist, commercially minded business leaders to develop and scale new tech ventures, has secured a £1.5m loan to invest in a new generation of tech trailblazers.

The funding will also help to support the company’s white-label platforms, which are used to enhance a start-up’s functionality without incurring the cost of developing single-use systems.

The business works with entrepreneurs who lack the specialist knowledge to launch new tech companies and products in sectors such as fintech, edutech and meditech. In the past five years, it has helped to build 25 companies, with a current total valuation of more than £185m. The firm has recently secured £900,000 in equity from high-net-worth individuals.

BOOST&Co is a leading provider of growth capital for innovative, fast-growing UK SMEs. It chose to work with Founder and Lightning because the firm has an exceptional management team and board of advisors, and takes an equity stake in each of the start-ups it supports.

The independent asset manager offers loans ranging from £1m to £10m, covering a wide range of sectors, with a strong track record in technology, media and telecommunications (TMT). It has funded more than £500m across more than 130 deals to date and provided close to £200m under the government’s CBILS initiative to support SMEs during Covid-19.

Jim Shirley, chief financial officer at Founder and Lightning, says: “This funding will be used to help our business reach more non-technical founders and bring their vision to life.

“We are helping the UK economy to bounce back stronger by working with commercially minded, non-technical founders to establish tech companies that create high-value jobs.

“Our partnership with BOOST&Co will enable us to accelerate this process, creating more exciting companies and even more jobs.”

Daniel Williams, portfolio manager at BOOST&Co, says: “This is an exciting company with a fascinating business model, driven by an exceptional management team. They work with serial entrepreneurs and have a network of individuals that can help to guide the start-ups they work with throughout their journey to becoming profitable tech businesses.”