Founded in 2016, Lovey (formerly Love Finance) has become the UK’s fastest-growing SME lender and broker by addressing one of the most persistent challenges in business finance: complexity. With a mission to make finance simple, fast and beautiful, the Birmingham-headquartered fintech has built a model that combines direct lending with brokerage services, giving SMEs tailored and flexible funding options.
The process is designed around speed and clarity. Businesses can submit an enquiry in just 60 seconds, check eligibility within five minutes and, where appropriate, receive funding in as little as four hours. Today, Lovey processes more than £1 million in small business loans every day, reflecting both demand and operational scale.
That efficiency has translated into significant financial growth. Turnover increased from £4.7 million in 2023 to £9.2 million in 2024, before rising again to approximately £18.7 million in FY2025, a 106% year-on-year increase. Loan volumes have grown in parallel, from £48 million in 2023 to £96 million in 2024 and £195 million in 2025 alone. To date, Lovey has facilitated around £400 million in funding to UK SMEs across a broad range of sectors.
Importantly, the company has remained profitable throughout its growth journey. Lovey was bootstrapped from inception and remains 100% founder-owned, scaling without venture capital or institutional equity backing. In 2025, the business strengthened its lending capacity by securing £45 million in debt financing, including a £35 million Revolving Credit Facility from Paragon Bank and a £10 million MTN programme from LGB Capital Markets. This funding supports continued expansion of the loan book while maintaining disciplined and sustainable growth.
Team growth has mirrored financial performance. From just 10 employees in 2021, Lovey expanded to 59 in 2024 and now employs more than 125 people, with plans to exceed 250 by Q3 2027. Headquartered in Birmingham, the company has emerged as one of the region’s standout high-growth success stories.
The company ranked #157 in the FT1000 Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies 2025, rising from #547 the previous year. It placed #23 in the FEBE Growth 100 and #32 in The Sunday Times 100, and featured on both the Sifted 100 UK & Ireland Leaderboard 2025 and Sifted 250 Europe 2025, where it was the only Birmingham-based company included. In 2025, Lovey secured #35 in Deloitte’s UK Technology Fast 50, alongside #9 in the FinTech category and #2 in the Midlands.
At the centre of this growth is Founder and CEO Jack Smith, a 34-year-old Birmingham-born entrepreneur who built the business from scratch. Launching Lovey in 2016, Smith began with cold calls and taught himself digital marketing, accounting and systems configuration in order to build the foundations of the company. He remains the sole shareholder today.
Smith’s approach blends automation with a human touch. While technology enables speed and efficiency, Lovey maintains a data-driven yet personal approach to ensure SMEs receive funding suited to their needs. He frequently describes small businesses as “the backbone of the economy” and views accessible finance as critical to their resilience and growth.
With sustained profitability, institutional debt backing and accelerating loan volumes, Lovey demonstrates that rapid expansion and operational discipline can coexist. As it continues to scale, the business is positioning itself not simply as a lender, but as a long-term partner to the UK’s SME community.