Lighter Capital offers a way for tech companies to secure up to $4 million through non-dilutive financing.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Editor & Senior Staff Writer
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Lead Staff Writer
| Total Rating | 3.8 |
|---|---|
| Rates & Fees4.0 | |
| Services3.5 | |
| Eligibility Requirements4.2 | |
| Application4.0 | |
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.2 | |
| Customer Service2.7 | |
| User Reviews4.9 | |
Table of Contents
Lighter Capital offers non-dilutive financing to eligible businesses in the tech industry, including software, SaaS, tech services, and businesses in similar sectors. To repay the loan, Lighter Capital offers three different types of funding: revenue-based, term-based, and contract-based.
Additionally, Lighter Capital may be able to help your business grow in other ways. The company has an active community program with which you may be able to connect with peers, venture capitalists, and other people who can help your business grow.
| Services3.5 |
|---|
| Lending Services 3.0 |
| Lending Limits 5.0 |
| Payment Portal & Mobile App 2.5 |
Lighter Capital offers three different types of non-dilutive funding:
Lighter Capital doesn’t have the variety of funding options available through other online lenders, which negatively impacted our rating. The lack of a mobile app also lowered the rating, bringing it to a 3.5/5 for services offered.
| Eligibility Requirements4.2 |
|---|
| Availability 3.5 |
| Borrower Qualifications 4.3 |
| Transparency 5.0 |
To qualify for a Lighter Capital loan, you must meet these requirements:
There are no listed time in business or credit score requirements. Lighter Capital does disclose that eligibility and approval are subject to standard credit assessment and that not all applicants may qualify. Not having strict limits on these requirements helped raise our rating for Lighter Capital’s eligibility requirements.
The company also states that your business does not have to be profitable or have positive cash flow, provided you meet the annual or monthly recurring revenue requirement. The revenue requirements are a bit steep, and only certain types of industries qualify, which lowered our score in this area to a respectable 4.2/5.
| Rates & Fees4.0 |
|---|
| Pricing 3.7 |
| Affordability 4.2 |
Unfortunately, Lighter Capital does not disclose much information about its terms and fees. It does provide a basic overview and a few details about some products to help you get an understanding of what to expect before applying. This lack of transparency led to our rating of 4/5 for Lighter Capital’s rates and fees.
| Borrowing Amount: | Up to $4 million |
| Term Length: | Up to 3 years (revenue-based and term-based) Less than 1 year (contract-based) |
| Borrowing Fee: | 1.3-1.5x (revenue-based) |
Borrowing fees are only disclosed for revenue-based financing. These loans can be repaid early, but Lighter Capital makes it clear that there is no incentive for early repayments.
Lighter Capital states that there are no hidden fees or other catches, including “warrants, restrictive covenants, or personal guarantees.”
| Application4.0 |
|---|
| Application Process 5.0 |
| Application Timeline 3.0 |
To get started with Lighter Capital, you’ll need to submit the online application. The lender states this application should take around three minutes.
After submitting your application, you’ll be contacted by one of Lighter Capital’s investment advisors to discuss why you need funding, borrowing requirements, and other details. You’ll also share your financial details to determine what product you qualify for, how much you are eligible to borrow, and additional requirements to receive funding.
If approved, you’ll receive the details of your loan, including repayment terms and when your loan will be funded.
Lighter Capital states that the process takes approximately three to four weeks for new clients. Loans are typically funded just a few days following loan approval. The length of the application process did negatively affect our score for Light Capital, bringing it to a 4/5 in this area.
| Sales & Advertising Transparency4.2 |
|---|
| Sales Practices 5.0 |
| Web Presence 3.0 |
Lighter Capital provides a good amount of information to help businesses decide whether or not this is the right service for their business. After perusing the site, you should have a good sense of the lender’s products, how the application process works, eligibility requirements, and general guidelines for terms, borrowing limits, and other details.
The company also has a somewhat active social media presence, which was taken into consideration in calculating our score of 4.2/5 for Lighter Capital’s sales and advertising transparency.
| Customer Service2.7 |
|---|
| Personal Support 3.4 |
| Self-Service 1.0 |
If you need to speak to a representative from the company, customer service is available via phone or email. Lighter Capital has a comprehensive FAQ that supplies answers to basic questions borrowers might have about the service.
| Lighter Capital Support | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
Lighter Capital also has profiles on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X.
In my experience, the staff is responsive, knowledgeable, and willing to answer questions. However, as no reviews online address customer service specifically, I cannot say if my experience is standard.
Lighter Capital also lacks some of the customer support and self-service options you’d find with other lenders. There is no live chat option, no knowledgebase, and you don’t have a dedicated support rep (or at least this is not disclosed. For these reasons, Lighter Capital received a 2.7/5 for customer service and technical support.
| User Reviews4.9 |
|---|
| User Feedback 5.0 |
| Review Site Aggregate 4.8 |
Lighter Capital has a profile on the Better Business Bureau website with an A+ rating (though it is not currently accredited) and no negative reviews or complaints. Otherwise, the service has very few customer reviews online, but has been extensively covered in news and business publications on the web. The positive testimonials, handful of positive reviews, and overall user feedback on review sites contributed to Lighter Capital’s near-perfect 4.9/5 rating.
Here are a few reasons Lighter Capital may not work for your business:
Lighter Capital has a few high-rated reviews on Facebook and Google; however, none of the reviewers left comments. The company has also recently been featured by several media outlets, including TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, NASDAQ, and Forbes.
Additionally, the company has a few customer testimonials on its blog, and you can see other businesses Lighter Capital has worked with on its clients page.
Here are commonly cited reasons people like Lighter Capital:
Lighter Capital services a very specific type of business, but it’s worth considering if you qualify.
Because Lighter Capital strictly works with businesses in the tech industry, eligible businesses would benefit from working with a lender that understands their business. Ultimately, Lighter Capital is a viable alternative to VC funding or bank loans, especially if you are not interested in giving up equity or don’t have any collateral.
For these reasons, we gave Lighter Capital an overall score of 3.8/5 and recommend this lender to businesses in the tech industry that meet the lender’s borrowing requirements.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business lenders since 2015. Our writers have tested over a hundred different funding products, including traditional term loans, online loans, lines of credit, start-up loans, merchant cash advances, and equipment financing. In each review, we evaluate rates and fees, services, eligibility requirements, application process, sales and advertising transparency, customer service, and user reviews.
Read more about how we rate business loans and funding products.
When comparing different lenders and loan products, we consider many data points, including the ease and transparency of the application process, interest rates, repayment structure, sales ethics, time to funding, revenue and time in business qualifications, and credit score requirements. Our lists of the best funding products include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points, and often share qualities such as widespread accessibility across fifty states, low rates, flexible requirements, and competitive borrowing amounts.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, making sure the loans and funding products included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
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Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
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