Lightyear (investment platform)

Last updated
Lightyear
Company type Private
Industry
Founded2020;4 years ago (2020)
Founder
  • Martin Sokk
  • Mihkel Aamer
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Area served
Products
Website lighteyar.com

Lightyear is a UK-based financial technology company providing investment services across 22 European countries. [1] Lightyear offers investments in international stock exchanges, exchange-traded funds, commodities, BlackRock money market funds, and interest on uninvested capital for both individuals and businesses. [2] [3] [4] The Lightyear platform is available as a mobile app and web application. [5]

Lightyear is regulated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority and Estonia's Finantsinspektsioon. [6] [7]

History

Founded in 2020 by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, both former employees of Wise, Lightyear was inspired by the founders’ personal experiences with investing. In their home country of Estonia, investing in the stock market was challenging and costly, and they recognised that investors across Europe faced similar issues. [8]

Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus (who was Skype's first employee) [9] led Lightyear’s initial funding round of $1.5 million in June 2021. [10] [11] In September 2021, Lightyear launched publicly in the UK and secured an additional $8.5 million in a second funding round led by Mosaic Ventures. [12]

In May 2022, Lightyear hired Wander Rutgers, former President of Robinhood, [13] as Chief Operating Officer to support the compliance and financial infrastructure side of the business. [14] In July 2022, Lightyear expanded its services to all eurozone countries and announced a $25 million funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson and other angel investors. [15] [16]

In 2024, Lightyear entered the B2B market with the launch of business accounts. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zopa</span> British financial services company

Zopa Bank Ltd. is a British online bank which offers deposit accounts, personal loans and credit cards. It began as the world's first peer-to-peer lending company in 2005 and gained a full banking licence in 2020. The peer-to-peer side of its business closed in December 2021.

JPMorgan Chase is an American multinational banking corporation with a large presence in the United Kingdom. The corporation's European subsidiaries J.P. Morgan Europe Limited, J.P. Morgan International Bank Limited and J.P. Morgan Securities plc are headquartered in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wise (company)</span> Financial services company

Wise, previously known as TransferWise, is a financial technology company focused on global money transfers. Headquartered in London, it was founded by Kristo Käärmann and Taavet Hinrikus in January 2011. As of 2023, it offers three main products: Wise Account, Wise Business, and Wise Platform.

LendInvest is a British non-bank mortgage lender which provides a property lending and investing platform. As an alternative fintech lender in the property market, LendInvest provides finance to property professionals and small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) around the UK. It also makes it possible for individuals, corporates and institutions to invest in secured property loans originated and underwritten by its mortgage team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robinhood Markets</span> US-based financial services company

Robinhood Markets, Inc. is an American financial services company headquartered in Menlo Park, California. The company provides an electronic trading platform accessible via mobile app that facilitates commission-free trades of stocks, exchange-traded funds and cryptocurrency, as well as cryptocurrency wallets, credit cards and other banking services. The company's revenue comes from transaction-based revenues, net interest income, and subscription fees. The company has 24.3 million funded customers, 11.0 million monthly active users, and $152 billion in assets under custody.

Fintech, a clipped compound of "financial technology", refers to the application of innovative technologies to products and services in the financial industry. This broad term encompasses a wide array of technological advancements in financial services, including mobile banking, online lending platforms, digital payment systems, robo-advisors, and blockchain-based applications such as cryptocurrencies. Fintech companies include both startups and established technology and financial firms that aim to improve, complement, or replace traditional financial services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Starling Bank</span> Challenger bank in the United Kingdom

Starling Bank is a British bank, occasionally referred to as a digital challenger bank or neobank, providing current and business bank accounts in the United Kingdom. Starling Bank is a licensed and regulated bank, founded by former Allied Irish Banks COO, Anne Boden, in January 2014. Since its founding, it has received over £500M of funding.

Mark Tluszcz is an American businessman and venture capitalist who is co-founder and CEO of Mangrove Capital Partners, a venture capital firm he set up in 2000. He also serves as Chairman of Wix.com (NASDAQ:WIX), a popular website building platform. His achievements include turning a $2m investment in Skype into $200m and a $8m investment in Wix.com into $700m.

Revolut Group Holdings Ltd (Revolut) is a global neobank and financial technology company with headquarters in London, UK that offers banking services for retail customers and businesses. It was founded in 2015 by Nikolay Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko. It offers products including banking services, currency exchange, debit and credit cards, virtual cards, Apple Pay, interest-bearing "vaults", personal loans and BNPL, stock trading, crypto, commodities, human resources and other services.

Tandem Money is a company that owns Tandem Bank, one of the UK's original challenger banks. Tandem Bank is a digital bank with a mobile app, and no branches.

Monese is a British company that offers current accounts and money transfer services as an alternative to traditional banks. The mobile-only service provides accounts in Pounds sterling, Euros and Romanian leu, and is available in 31 countries across the European Economic Area. As of January 2020, it has over 2 million customers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atom Bank</span> Retail bank in the United Kingdom

Atom Bank plc is a retail bank in the United Kingdom. It is the United Kingdom's first bank built for smartphone or tablet, without any branches, and the first digital-only challenger bank to be granted a full UK regulatory licence. The company is based in Durham, England.

Wahed is an American financial technology and services company based in New York City, New York. In July 2019, the company launched the first exchange-traded fund in the United States that was compliant with Sharia law. Wahed operates in 130 countries and has offices in Washington D.C, New York, London and Dubai. According to Bloomberg, it has a valuation of $300 million.

Freetrade is a UK-based financial technology company which offers a freemium share dealing service. The company was founded in 2016 and launched an iOS app in October 2018, followed by an Android version in April 2019. In October 2021 the company surpassed one million registered users, with quarterly trading volumes as of March 2021 of over £1 billion. As of November 2021 Freetrade has over £1 billion of assets under administration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BUX (brokerage)</span> Amsterdam-based financial services company

BUX is a European mobile brokerage company, based in Amsterdam and London. Retail investors buy shares, ETFs and cryptocurrency through the BUX app. BUX allows users CFD trading through its Stryk app and crypto trading using the BUX Crypto platform.

bunq International fintech company

bunq, is a Dutch fintech and neobank licensed in the Netherlands within the European Union and operating in 30 European countries. It is colloquially named bunq — bank of The Free and was founded in Amsterdam where its headquarters are located.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zilch (company)</span> Financial technology company

Zilch Technology Ltd., known as Zilch, is a direct-to-consumer ad-subsidised payments network. Headquartered in London, Zilch combines payments and advertising to offer customers flexible payment solutions for online and in-store transactions, with the vision "to eliminate the cost of consumer credit. For good".

Linqto is a San Francisco Bay Area-based investment platform that allows accredited investors to invest in private-market startups and pre-IPO companies. It has users in 110 countries. As of 2024, the company is set to go public on the NASDAQ.

Atlantic Money is a London-headquartered financial technology company that offers international money transfers for a fixed fee. The firm was founded in 2020 and officially launched in 2022 by two Americans, Neeraj Baid and Patrick Kavanagh, both early employees of the listed US financial services company Robinhood.

Patrick Ryan Grossmann-Kavanagh is an American entrepreneur known for founding the cryptocurrency business at Robinhood and co-founding Atlantic Money, a financial technology company.

References

  1. ↑ AltFi (2024-01-04). "Neobroker Lightyear reports 700% AUA growth in 2023". AltFi. Archived from the original on 2024-02-29. Retrieved 2024-02-06.
  2. ↑ O'Brien, Ciara (2023-09-25). "Branson-backed Lightyear increases interest rate on cash balances for Irish users". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  3. ↑ Rana, Jayna (2023-08-23). "BlackRock partners with Richard Branson-backed platform to launch money market funds". Investment Week. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  4. 1 2 Monaghan, Gabrielle (2024-09-29). "Investment app backed by Richard Branson targets Irish businesses by offering 2.75pc rate". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  5. ↑ Towner, Lauren (2023-04-25). "Lightyear Launches Web Platform For Investors Across Europe". FF News | Fintech Finance. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  6. ↑ "Lightyear U.K. Ltd". register.fca.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  7. ↑ Mulcahy, Nick (2022-07-14). "Neobroker Lightyear rolls out service in Ireland". Business Plus. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  8. ↑ Matthew, Neville (2022-04-21). "Fintech startup adds "highly requested" features to investment suite ahead of European expansion". Bdaily Business News. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  9. ↑ Shead, Sam (2019-08-21). "The Skype Mafia: Who Are They And Where Are They Now?". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  10. ↑ Isabel, Woodford (2021-06-03). "Taavet Hinrikus backs new investing platform, pitched as the 'TransferWise of trading'". Sifted. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  11. ↑ Dillet, Romain (2021-06-03). "Lightyear is a new stock trading app from early Wise employees". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  12. ↑ Lanyon, Daniel (2021-09-15). "Fintech veterans launch new trading app Lightyear with $8.5m from Monzo backer & Wise founder". AltFi. Archived from the original on 2021-09-17. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  13. ↑ "Robinhood readies investment product for early 2020 launch in UK". Finextra Research. 2019-11-20. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  14. ↑ Lanyon, Daniel (2022-05-18). "Exclusive: Lightyear hires ex-Robinhood boss as COO - AltFi". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 2022-06-28. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  15. ↑ Browne, Ryan (2022-07-14). "Richard Branson takes a stake in Lightyear, a start-up hoping to become Europe's answer to Robinhood". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  16. ↑ Sawers, Paul (2022-07-14). "Richard Branson backs Lightyear as it launches into Europe". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.