Lightyear, a multi-regulated investment platform offering commission-free trading and high-yield savings, has raised $23 million in a Series B funding round, bringing its total funding to $58 million.
- Established in 2020 by Mihkel Aamer and Martin Sokk, Lightyear offers a multi-regulated investment platform that enables retail investors across Europe and the UK to access global markets with low costs and minimal friction.
- Headquartered in London and regulated across both the UK and EU, Lightyear manages over $1 billion in customer assets. The platform supports users in more than 25 countries, offers services in 10 languages, and provides access to over 6,000 financial instruments, including US, UK, and EU stocks, ETFs, bonds, and money market funds.
- Lightyear combines commission-free trading, fractional share investing, and AI-powered investing tools to simplify wealth management for everyday users.
- Its flagship savings product currently offers up to 2.03% APY, benchmarked daily against the European Central Bank’s overnight rate and managed by BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager with over $10 trillion in assets.
- With no minimum or maximum deposit limits and no custody, execution, or FX fees for trades in home currencies (EUR, GBP, USD), the platform aims to remove structural barriers that have long complicated European investing, such as tax fragmentation and currency mismatches.
Details of the deal
- Lightyear’s $23 million Series B funding round was led by NordicNinja VC, Superangel, and Specialist VC, with participation from Lightspeed, Skaala, and Metaplanet.
- The round also attracted prominent individual investors, including Markus Villig, Taavet Hinrikus, Ott Kaukver, and Nicole Quinn, among others.
- Lightyear aims to use the fresh capital to expand into new European markets, enhance its AI-powered investing tools, develop fractional investing options for EU stocks and funds, and scale its operations to better serve its growing customer base.
"All this, and today still feels like just the beginning. Thanks for trusting us with $1 billion in such a short space of time. Here’s to the next milestone of $100 billion, and changing investing in Europe for the better," co-founder and CEO of Lightyear, Martin Sokk, commented.
