Lighter Capital, the online investor providing growth capital to technology companies, announced this week that it received $100 million in funding from Community Investment Management (CIM).
The $100 million will enable the company to fund approximately 500 investments in SaaS, tech services and digital media companies, and the company will increase the total investment amounts per company from $1 million to $2 million.
In addition to the fund, Lighter Capital has closed a $9 million Series B equity financing with investments from Voyager Capital, Summit Capital, and individual investors, including an investment from Lighter Capital’s Chairman, Jeff Seely, who is the founder and former Chairman and CEO of Sharebuilder Securities.
BJ Lackland, CEO of Lighter Capital, stated:
“The process of raising capital hasn’t changed in decades, but we are providing a process that feels natural to tech entrepreneurs. Many entrepreneurs will make mileage-status traversing the country for six months begging for money over coffee meetings and PowerPoint pitches. Entrepreneurs deserve better. They deserve a process that is as technologically advanced as they are, enabling them to access capital through the web in a matter of weeks. And while VCs are dependent on finding the next Unicorn, our focus is on providing meaningful amounts of capital necessary for an entrepreneur to maximize value in their business.”
Jacob Haar, Managing Partner at Community Investment Management, an impact investment firm that focuses on small businesses lending platforms, added:
“Lighter Capital has created an innovative funding model that has great benefit for small businesses and directly aligns the interests of the entrepreneur and investor. They are supporting technology companies with a responsible, transparent, and entrepreneur-friendly product that will scale. The $100 million investment is our commitment to join Lighter Capital in changing the way companies access funding.”
