Company: Lightning Reach
CEO and Founder: Ren Yi Hooi
Website: https://www.lightningreach.org
About Lightning Reach
Lightning Reach provides essential infrastructure for financial support delivery, enabling a faster, fairer, and more accessible system. Founded in 2021 by Ren Yi Hooi, Lightning Reach was created to target one of the biggest barriers to financial support access – fragmented and slow processes.
Currently, over 20 million people in the UK live in financially vulnerable circumstances, yet access to support remains fragmented, with over £23 billion going unclaimed each year due to complex application processes complete with repeat form-filling and long wait times.
To fix this, Lightning Reach offers a single, secure journey to find and apply for personalised support. Through a “tell it once” approach, people can access help from over 2,500 verified schemes without repeating their story. Smart matching connects users to grants, benefits, bill support, and other vital resources based on their circumstances, reducing confusion and delay at moments of financial pressure. The result is faster access to support and a more respectful experience at a time when people are least able to navigate complex systems.
For partner organisations, including charities, local authorities, housing providers, and utilities, Lightning Reach simplifies and strengthens delivery. Customisable applications, automated eligibility checks, and integrated tools such as open banking and identity verification reduce manual processing, limit duplication and help ensure support reaches the right people quickly. This allows organisations to respond at pace while maintaining robust governance and audit trails.
Lightning Reach is a trusted partner to leading utilities, charities and local councils across the UK, including TSB, OVO Energy, Edinburgh City Council and the Royal British Legion.
Over the past year, Lightning Reach has delivered significant growth alongside measurable social impact. The company doubled its annual recurring revenue to £1.3 million, demonstrating a scalable and sustainable business model. At the same time, it has facilitated over £25 million in financial support to individuals, including £7 million distributed in the last year alone, supporting people with essential living costs such as energy and utilities, food, housing, and everyday items. Its user base has also grown rapidly to over 330 ,000 people, with more than 100,000 joining in the past year.
This growth has also been matched by strong operational outcomes. Partner organisations using Lightning Reach have reduced triage call handling times by up to 69%, while grant processing has been cut from hours to minutes. For individuals in need of financial support, this translates into faster access to vital funds, often within days, at the moments they need it most. Lightning Reach consistently reaches groups who are often underserved, including people on low incomes, those receiving benefits, women, and people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
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