Lightbulb Credit

What Lightbulb Credit does

Lightbulb Credit Ltd is a UK-based private company, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Long Eaton, Nottingham, that specialises in business credit rating improvement and ongoing credit monitoring for UK companies. Its core proposition is the aggregation of business credit ratings, recommended credit limits and payment data from all five major UK rating agencies (Experian, Equifax, Dun & Bradstreet, Creditsafe and RedFlag Alert) into a single report and, since 2024, a single online monitoring portal. The company holds bespoke non-disclosure agreements with each agency, enabling it to submit confidential off-market financial information on a client's behalf for agency reassessment - a unique capability that allows ratings to be challenged or improved in as little as 72 hours.

The commercial offering follows a three-tier model: a free, no-footprint Company Credit Insight Report delivered within one hour serves as the lead-generation top-of-funnel; the Credit Improvement service is sold on a success-fee basis (no upfront cost, payment only on delivery of an agreed outcome); and a whole-market Credit Monitoring subscription, priced at £140 per month plus VAT (£180 inc. VAT), provides real-time alerts and monthly reports via the proprietary portal, with an optional £40-per-month add-on for trade credit insurer data (Coface, Allianz). Two supplementary modules - Trade Credit Insurance Support and strategic Advisory Services covering M&A, divestments, debt-for-equity swaps and NewCo carve-outs - sit alongside this core stack and are quoted per engagement. The technology underlying the operation is a proprietary client portal (launched 2024) and an automated report-generation engine (invested in 2021), running on a conventional third-party SaaS stack (AWS, Pipedrive, Mailchimp, Workato, Xero).

Lightbulb primarily serves UK mid-market and enterprise businesses in working-capital-sensitive verticals, with construction cited as the leading vertical and private-equity-backed companies a primary use case. Go-to-market is product-led (free report) overlaid with sales-assisted follow-up, plus referral channels via funding brokers, accountants and professional advisors. The company is backed by UK private equity firm Foresight Group, which invested in 2023 and holds a board seat, and is led by founder and CEO James Piper, a qualified accountant with over 20 years of commercial finance experience, alongside COO Olek Smith and a non-executive chair and director. Since 2018, Lightbulb reports that £3 billion has been added to clients' balance sheets through improved supplier terms and £700 million of funding has been enabled, with thousands of businesses served. The company explicitly restricts its service to UK-incorporated businesses.

Name

Lightbulb Credit

Legal name

Lightbulb Credit Ltd

Website

https://lightbulbcredit.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lightbulb Credit is a UK private company, founded in 2018, that improves and monitors business credit ratings by aggregating data from all five major UK rating agencies and submitting confidential financial information on behalf of clients to drive faster approvals and better terms.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Business Credit Rating Services

NAICS

Credit Bureaus (561450)

SIC

Miscellaneous Business Credit Institution (6159)

akta.pro primary industry

Credit Repair & Credit Score Advisory (FSAEAFAD)

Keywords

• Business credit ratings
• Credit monitoring services
• Trade credit insurance support
• Credit improvement advisory
• Business credit reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Long Eaton

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Credit Improvement (Success Fee): The primary paid service is a 'success fee' model where clients pay only if Lightbulb delivers the agreed credit improvement outcome. No upfront cost. If ratings are not improved, no payment is required. This is the main commercial revenue driver.
2. Credit Monitoring (Monthly Subscription): Ongoing subscription service providing whole-market credit monitoring across all major agencies via a client portal, monthly reports, and real-time alerts. Billed monthly in advance by direct debit. Basic tier at £140/month + VAT; optional trade credit insurer data add-on at £40/month + VAT.
3. Advisory Services: Bespoke strategic advisory engagements covering M&A activity, divestments, debt-for-equity swaps, NewCo carve-outs, and material uncertainty situations. Quoted on a per-engagement basis.
4. Free Company Credit Insight Report: A free report delivered within one hour serves as the primary lead-generation tool. No direct revenue is generated from this report; it functions as the top-of-funnel acquisition product that feeds into paid service conversions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Lightbulb Credit helps UK businesses understand, improve, and continuously monitor their corporate credit ratings across all five major UK credit rating agencies (Experian, Creditsafe, Equifax, Dun & Bradstreet, RedFlag Alert). Its core deliverables are a free multi-agency Company Credit Insight Report, a success-fee Credit Improvement service that uses NDA-protected data submissions to drive rating upgrades, and a monthly Whole-market Credit Monitoring subscription accessed through its proprietary online portal with real-time alerts.

Product overview

Lightbulb Credit offers a three-tier service model built around its core credit intelligence platform. The foundation is the Free Company Credit Insight Report, a no-footprint multi-agency credit assessment delivered within an hour. Building on this, the Credit Improvement service uses NDA-protected data submissions to credit rating agencies to improve ratings within 72 hours, charged on success fee. The Whole-market Credit Monitoring service provides ongoing real-time alerts and monthly reports across all agencies via a proprietary online portal for £140/month. Two supplementary modules extend the platform: Trade Credit Insurance Support for liaising with insurers (Coface, Euler Hermes, Atradius, Allianz, Aon) to protect coverage and limits, and Advisory Services for strategic support around M&A, carve-outs, and working capital optimisation. Lightbulb is the only UK company reporting across all five major rating agencies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Free Company Credit Insight Report A free multi-agency business credit report that aggregates credit ratings, recommended credit limits, search volume data, payment perception data, and CCJ information from all five main UK rating agencies (Experian, Creditsafe, Equifax, Dun & Bradstreet, RedFlag Alert). Delivered within one hour via email with no credit footprint on the business; functions as the primary lead-generation tool.
• Credit Improvement A bespoke service that improves business credit ratings by presenting off-market financial and business data to credit rating agencies under NDA, enabling agencies to reassess ratings based on full and up-to-date information. Charged on a success-fee basis with no upfront cost and results achievable in as little as 72 hours.
• Whole-market Credit Monitoring A subscription service providing real-time alerts and monthly reports tracking credit profile changes across Experian, Creditsafe, Equifax, and Dun & Bradstreet from a single dashboard, with expert support and optional trade credit insurer data (Coface, Allianz) for an additional fee. Priced at £140/month plus optional £40/month for insurer data.
• Trade Credit Insurance Support Advisory service supporting businesses in obtaining and maintaining trade credit insurance coverage through direct liaison with insurers (Coface, Euler Hermes, Atradius, Allianz) and broker Aon. Includes presenting data to insurers, managing communications during uncertainty, helping maintain discretionary limits, and proactive insurer engagement.
• Advisory Services Strategic advisory services focused on trade credit ratings, trade credit insurance, and working capital optimisation. Supports M&A activity, divestments, debt-for-equity swaps, NewCo carve-outs, and material uncertainty situations. Provides working capital at risk assessments and investor/board assurance; quoted on a per-engagement basis.

Quantifiable outcome

• £3 billion added to clients' balance sheets (through improved supplier terms)
• +9 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CreditsafecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreditsafe is one of the five main UK credit rating agencies whose data is aggregated in Lightbulb's free Company Credit Insight Report and monitoring services. Lightbulb has a bespoke NDA with Creditsafe enabling confidential data sharing on behalf of clients.
• ExperiancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExperian is one of the five main UK credit rating agencies whose data is aggregated in Lightbulb's free Company Credit Insight Report and monitoring services. Lightbulb has a bespoke NDA with Experian enabling confidential data sharing on behalf of clients.
• Dun & Bradstreet (D&B)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDun & Bradstreet is one of the five main UK credit rating agencies whose data is included in Lightbulb's free Company Credit Insight Report and monitoring services. Lightbulb has a bespoke NDA with D&B enabling confidential data sharing on behalf of clients.
• EquifaxcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEquifax is one of the five main UK credit rating agencies whose data is aggregated in Lightbulb's free Company Credit Insight Report and monitoring services. Lightbulb has a bespoke NDA with Equifax enabling confidential data sharing on behalf of clients.
• RedFlag AlertcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerRedFlag Alert is one of the five main UK credit rating agencies whose data is included in Lightbulb's free Company Credit Insight Report and monitoring services. Lightbulb has a bespoke NDA with RedFlag Alert enabling confidential data sharing on behalf of clients.
• CofaceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoface is a leading trade credit insurer. Lightbulb works with Coface to help businesses understand how they are rated by the insurer and present data to support limit applications. Lightbulb can include live Coface insurer data within the monitoring portal for an additional £40/month.
• Allianz TrademinorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAllianz Trade (formerly Euler Hermes) is a leading trade credit insurer. Lightbulb includes live Allianz insurer data within the monitoring portal as an optional add-on. Lightbulb also supports clients in presenting data to Allianz under trade credit insurer approved templates.
• AtradiusminorOthersAtradius is a trade credit insurer mentioned as one of the insurers Lightbulb liaises with directly regarding credit limit support for clients.
• Euler Hermes (Allianz Trade)minorOthersEuler Hermes (now Allianz Trade) is referenced as one of the trade credit insurers Lightbulb has relationships with for insurer engagement and data sharing.
• AonminorOthersAon is a broker mentioned in the context of Lightbulb working alongside clients and brokers to make presentations to trade credit insurers.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Graydon: UK business credit data, analytics and monitoring provider offering company credit reports and continuous monitoring — directly comparable to Lightbulb's multi-agency reporting and whole-market monitoring proposition.
• Company Watch: UK provider of commercial company credit reports and analytics with continuous monitoring products across multiple agencies — the closest UK direct comparable to Lightbulb's multi-agency report and monitoring offering for corporate clients.
• Creditera: US business-credit monitoring service aggregating multi-bureau data and working with SMEs on credit-building — similar multi-agency aggregation and small-business credit-improvement positioning to Lightbulb in the UK.
• Nav: US small-business credit and financial-health platform that pulls data from multiple bureaus (Experian, Equifax, D&B) into a single dashboard — functionally the closest overseas equivalent to Lightbulb's multi-agency aggregation and monitoring approach for SMEs.
• Creditsafe: Global business credit reporting agency that provides its own credit reports, recommended limits and monitoring products in the UK — overlapping directly with Lightbulb's aggregation and monitoring services, while also being one of Lightbulb's underlying data sources.

Broad incumbents

• Bureau van Dijk (Moody's): Global business intelligence and corporate data platform (Moody's) providing company credit reports and ownership/exposure analytics — broader incumbent overlapping with Lightbulb's multi-agency aggregation for larger enterprise and compliance use cases.
• Dun & Bradstreet: Global business credit intelligence incumbent providing company reports, PAYDEX and recommended credit terms in the UK — an underlying data source for Lightbulb and a broad incumbent offering comparable outputs as part of a wider portfolio.
• Experian UK (Business): UK business division of Experian offering commercial credit reports, recommended limits and monitoring — a key data source for Lightbulb and a broad incumbent with overlapping credit-reporting and monitoring capabilities.
• RedFlag Alert: UK business credit reporting and alerting platform — one of Lightbulb's five underlying data partners, but also sells its own reports and alerts directly to UK businesses, competing in the same credit-monitoring category.
• Equifax UK (Business): UK business division of Equifax providing company credit data, scores and monitoring — both an underlying data partner for Lightbulb and a broad incumbent with overlapping business credit-report and alert products.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lightbulb-credit-limited

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lightbulb Credit