[catlike]

Is there a difference between Senior Developer and Lead Developer (in your case Lead might mean solo?). VC can sometimes take a long time to work out so I'm not sure we're told enough to know if they are being disingenuous.

But here is the important bit,

"although I have taken the company from strength to strength, when it came to promotions, those with the right surname have seen rapid progression"

Disregarding your mention of discrimination (not relevant to this discussion) you don't feel like you have any upward mobility, and if you don't feel like you have a founder you can talk frankly to about this I think you need to move on.