Investment platform Lightyear has commenced onboarding new customers in Ireland following a $25m Series A funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Richard Branson.
Lightyear was founded in October 2020 by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer with the aim of bringing what the founders describe as ‘a global mindset’ to European investors.
Traditionally, if investors in Europe want access to international markets they are faced with transaction and custody fees, as well as foreign exchange fees.
With its multi-currency accounts, Lightspeed says customers can add, hold and invest using in different currencies, Lightyear seamlessly bridges the gaps between international markets for customers.
The Lightyear operating company is based in Estonia and Lightyear Europe AS is regulated by the Estonian Financial Supervision Authority.
In Association with
Like investment peer BUX Zero, Lightyear operates through a mobile device app.
Nicole Quinn, partner at Lightspeed, commented: “Having lived and worked on both sides of the pond, I’ve seen first-hand the pain points for Europeans trying to access the financial markets as easily as their counterparts in the US. Lightyear is trying to fix this with a platform that understands the nuances between different regulations, languages, exchanges and cultural investing norms.
“With no trading fees, no account fees and no custody fees, Lightyear is entering most European countries as the most competitively priced investment platform on the market with an advanced product suite and slick app experience. As one of the fastest moving brokerages in Europe, Lightyear also has its sights set on non-Euro countries next including places like Sweden, Norway, Romania, Poland and Hungary.
“There is no single neobroker offering products across the continent right now, and the potential is enormous. Martin and Mihkel have assembled an all-star team to achieve this goal, and we couldn’t be more excited to support them all on this journey.”
Martin Sokk, Co-founder and CEO at Lightyear, added: “Nine months ago we launched our app in the UK. Fast forward to now and we’ve secured a European licence that enables us to launch across the continent and raised one of the largest Series A rounds in 2022.
“Our goal remains the same: to give all of Europe access to the world’s markets without hidden fees and to make investing easy for everyone. We’re so excited to welcome Lightspeed, alongside the Virgin Group, onto our strong bench of investors that share this vision with us and have such deep experience in growing successful businesses from the very start of their journey.”
The company has raised $35m to date and app features include a social feature - Lightyear Profiles – and an education offering.
“From professional analyst ratings and price targets to live news feeds without paywalls, Lightyear customers have access to a wealth of information before making an investment decision,” Quinn added.
