Lightning Reach

Lightning Reach is a UK fintech-for-good company that connects people in financial hardship with grants, benefits, and other support through a single application. Founded in 2020 by solo founder Ren Yi Hooi during the COVID-19 pandemic, the platform addresses a market in which roughly £19bn of available UK support funding goes unclaimed each year because schemes are fragmented, poorly advertised, and difficult to navigate.

Individuals create one profile and are then matched against schemes from charities, local authorities, housing associations, utilities, and financial institutions. On the partner side, Lightning Reach uses tooling such as open banking to verify financial need and process applications in days rather than weeks — saving organisations like the Royal British Legion roughly 80% of their administrative time.

The platform has more than 140,000 registered users and has facilitated over £15M in grants. Partners include Lloyds Banking Group, TSB, OVO Energy, EON Next, Lambeth Council, and PA Housing. Lightning Reach raised £1M in its first institutional round in 2023, led by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation alongside Big Issue Invest's Growth Impact Fund, Barrow Cadbury Trust, Treebeard Trust, and Fredericks Foundation, building on earlier support from Techstars and Chris Adelsbach.