Sonic was originally founded to provide mezzanine loans, although the business has grown substantially since its launch three years ago by co-founders Marc Cantor and Andrew Smith.

A senior funding line from Shawbrook was brought in to help Sonic offer smaller senior loans, although the company said the structure at the time limited scalability.

Andrew, co-founder of Sonic Funding Partners and Phoenix Funding, commented: “When Marc and I launched Sonic, we focussed primarily on mezzanine lending with partner capital.

“However, we wanted to scale sustainably and be able to lend to our clients with greater confidence, meaning we needed a more robust platform once we had proof of concept.”

Marc has stepped into a consultancy role to oversee the wind-down from Sonic and has joined Phoenix as a senior business development director.

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Co-founders of Phoenix, Andrew; Clint; and Leon, acquired Sonic Funding Partners to boost Phoenix.

All of the Sonic employees have now joined Phoenix, with the team now including two new directors of credit, two case managers, and three additional financial analysts.

Andrew said: “We started planning for Phoenix in 2023, a new tech-driven lending platform providing senior, mezzanine, and senior equity to SME developers.

“We’ve received substantial capital from Arena Investors, who’re joining us as equity partners alongside myself, Leon, and Clint.

“Just as a phoenix rises from the ashes, Phoenix Funding emerges from Sonic as a stronger and more ambitious platform.

“We are proud to have three founding partners that have decades of experience under their belts but, equally, everyone that works at Phoenix also has the opportunity to become a partner too.”