Manchester-based FinTech, Lemon, which specialises in subscription management for SMBs, has secured £500k in a pre-seed funding round.
The investment was led by SFC Capital, recognised as the UK’s most active early-stage VC, alongside European fund Pitchdrive. The round was bolstered by angel investors including Nick Dodd, former Partner of Debt Advisory at KPMG, and a Co-Founder of FinTech communications agency SkyParlour.
Lemon has secured £500k to propel its early development stages. This funding round included contributions from SFC Capital, Pitchdrive, and notable angel investors who now join Lemon’s advisory board. This diverse group of investors not only brings financial support but also a wealth of strategic advice to guide Lemon through its nascent growth phase.
Lemon provides a critical service by enabling SMBs to centralise the management of their software as a service (SaaS) subscriptions. Businesses often spend upwards of £30,000 annually on SaaS, with many unaware of the aggregate costs. Lemon’s platform helps companies monitor and control their SaaS spending, offering the potential to cut costs by an average of 20%. This tool is designed to support SMBs in enhancing operational efficiencies across various functions including HR, marketing, and accounting.
The funds from this round will be directed towards accelerating product development with the aid of new hires such as Chief Technical Officer Matt Parke, and a soon-to-be-appointed Content & Community Manager. Lemon aims to refine its offerings based on feedback from early users, improving functionalities like instant credit options at checkout—features that promise substantial cost savings on annual SaaS plans while maintaining monthly payment flexibility.
This financial injection is particularly timely as it demonstrates continued investor confidence in new FinTech solutions amidst a broader slowdown in sector funding. The enhancement of Lemon’s product features is poised to significantly benefit SMBs globally by reducing overheads and fostering more sustainable financial operations.
Ed Stevenson, Investment Executive at SFC Capital, expressed his enthusiasm about the investment: “We are really excited to be backing Lemon in their pre-seed round. SaaS is a huge spend for many businesses so being able to reduce costs, centralise management and easily spot inefficiencies is hugely valuable. We believe that Lemon can scale into a dominant product with their vision to introduce instant credit, payments, discoverability and analytics. We are glad to be part of the journey with Matt and the team.”
Echoing this sentiment, Lemon CEO Matt Bird highlighted the broader economic context: “It’s clear that we’re going through a really interesting period for SMBs at the moment. Taking into consideration the challenging economic landscape with funding drying up everywhere you turn, SMBs now need the tools and services to help them build better businesses as cost-efficiently as possible. With software being the third largest spend for an SMB, we really think Lemon can become a core part of how an SMB uses SaaS.”
Koen Christiaens, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Pitchdrive, also supported the vision: “We fully believe in the vision of Lemon and can see how much of a gamechanger the solution can be for SMBs. Managing subscriptions remains a chaotic task for most businesses, so having a single view of subscription spend, coupled with the ability to access sustainable finance which reduces burn and promote cash-flow efficiency, makes us very excited. We believe Lemon can become a household name for the SaaS industry over the next couple of years.”
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