Lightyear raises $25m in Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners to scale across Europe.
The London investment platform secured backing from Lightspeed Venture Partners, Virgin Group, and Richard Branson to fund its European expansion.
≈ £21.1M at $1 = £0.8445 on 14 Jul 2022
Lightyear operates a multi-currency investment platform that provides access to global markets with zero trading, account, or custody fees.
London investment platform Lightyear has secured $25m in a Series A equity funding round to fuel its expansion across Europe. The investment was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Mosaic Ventures, Taavet+Sten, Metaplanet, Virgin Group, Richard Branson, and existing angel investors.
The capital will support the company as it launches operations in 19 Eurozone countries, marking its first major international push following its initial UK debut. Lightyear plans to eliminate the transaction and custody fees that have historically hampered European investors.
Co-founded by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, the firm combines multi-currency accounts with straightforward market access. The company intends to scale its presence further across non-Euro markets in the near future.
From the founder
"Nine months ago, we launched our app in the UK to initial waitlisters. 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. But, 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 Nicole and 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."
Martin Sokk
Co-founder and CEO at Lightyear
Investor perspective
"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 customers not only love and trust, but one that understands the nuances between different regulations, languages, exchanges and cultural investing norms. 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."
Nicole Quinn
Partner, Lightspeed
Use of funds
- 01Expand into international markets
