Speedinvest and Seedcamp shine a light on new learning platform with £500k funding

A learning and development platform, Sunlight, designed to support scaling businesses’ demands, has announced today (November 1) its close of a £500k seed round.

Founded in 2016 by Carlos and Juan Lagrange, it counts Speedinvest, Seedcamp and Annection among its investors. It enables employers to create a learning culture at work through aiming to empower staff to take ownership of their personal development.

Through the platform, employers can control how much each team member is allowed to spend across the year, approve requests from their employees on everything from books to courses and events, and get charged for what they use, in one monthly invoice.

Carlos Lagrange, CEO and co-founder of Sunlight, commented: “Our mission is to unlock the world’s potential. Learning opportunities are quickly becoming a key driver for the new generation entering the working world and we know that within the tech industry, scaleups need to find ways to stand out and attract talent when competing against goliaths.

“Offering opportunities to learn is a great way to attract and retain talented individuals within your business, as you grow. Sunlight makes this easier for everyone and democratises the old system many companies currently use.”

Through its work with existing clients, Sunlight said that it improves learning engagement by 34 per cent, 22 per cent above the industry average.

In addition to helping solve learning and development issues in growing businesses, Sunlight uses data from the platform to spot trends, suggest new courses, and even flag when someone is looking at learning tools outside of their current job description.

Allowing HR to quickly see how they can best support an individual, where someone may be at risk of wanting to leave and less willing to talk openly about what they want from a role. Enabling HR to truly support the workforce in multiple different ways.

The seed round will be used to help power further expansion into new territories and sectors, as well as growth of the Sunlight team.

Carlos added: “This seed round is a key moment for us as we look to work with even more exciting companies and scale up the size of teams that the platform can support.

“We’ve been supported by an incredible list of investors and believe their expertise and connections will play a big role in the future 18 months of Sunlight’s journey.”

The current funding round brings the team’s total funds raised to £600k, including prior investment from Seedcamp and Annection, who have both reinvested, Techstars and a previous loan from Virgin Startup.

In addition, they now count Speedinvest as a key investor with strong links to the US to aid expansion, and angel investors such as Charles Wiles and X.

Erik Bovee, partner of Speedinvest, added: “The team is stellar, and they have built a platform that is perfectly suited to the learning and development needs of high growth, new companies.

“It’s particularly relevant in the US market, where competition for top talent is fierce and employee training is a key part of retention. We are rolling Sunlight out to our own portfolio companies immediately, and look forward to supporting their growth, particularly in the US.”

Current customers of the Sunlight platform include Wonderbly, Skimlinks, TypeForm, Performance Horizon Group and The Girl Effect.

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