The investment app Lightyear raises 25 million euros in the middle of European expansion

The investment app Lightyear has announced a $ 25 million financing round in Series A and is rolling out in a further 19 European markets, just nine months after launch.

The latest investment is led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with participation from Mosaic Ventures, Taavet + Sten and Metaplanet. It also sees participation for the first time from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. That brings the total amount the company has raised to over $ 35 million.

At the same time, Lightyear announces its expansion to 19 new markets, all in the EU. They include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, which join the UK, where the app is already live. This means that there are now only 8 EU markets where the app is not available, especially Sweden and Denmark.

Build a new broker to “lift the lid on investing”

Martin Sokk, co-founder and CEO of Lightyear, says: “Nine months ago we launched our app in the UK for the first waiting lists. Fast forward to now, and we have secured a European license that enables us to launch over the whole continent and raised one of the biggest Serie A rounds in 2022. But our goal remains the same: to give the whole of Europe access to world markets without hidden fees and to make investing easy for everyone.We are so happy to wish Lightspeed welcome, together with Virgin Group, to our strong bench of investors who share this vision with us and have such deep experience in growing successful businesses right from the start of the journey. ”

Nicole Quinn, a partner at Lightspeed, says: “Having lived and worked on both sides of the pond, I have first and foremost seen the pain of Europeans trying to access the financial markets as easily as their counterparts in the United States. Lightyear tries to fix this with a platform that customers not only love and trust, but one that understands the nuances between different regulations, languages, stock exchanges and cultural investment norms. There is no single new broker offering products across the continent right now, and the potential is huge. Martin and Mihkel have put together an all-star team to achieve this goal, and we could not have been more excited to support them all on this journey. “

And Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, adds: “For too long, financial markets have been far too complex with high barriers to entry and confusing jargon. Martin, Mihkel and the Lightyear team lift the lid on the investment world – making it more transparent, while giving people the opportunity to choose the products that suit them through education. “

Give people the opportunity to invest, no matter how small

Lightyear was founded by CEO Martin Sokk and CTO Mihkel Aamer. They set about revising the damaged investment system in Europe, and closely monitored three core issues. First, investment fees were high and not always transparent. Each platform has a different approach to fees, which means variations in the way they are used and confusion for the daily investor. Lightyear bills itself as “truly commission free”, the only notable fee is its 0.35% currency conversion rate for forex at higher value amounts.

Secondly, Sokk and Aamer wanted to address the limited access to markets. Unlike in the United States, European consumers did not have clear, easy access to financial markets with existing hyperlocal options limited to one or two markets. Instead, Lightyear wants to build a solution that is usable across the European continent, as underlined by today’s expansion announcement.

Finally, they wanted to change the lack of information and education around investment – one of the biggest obstacles for informal retail investors. Lightyear describes most platforms as “execution sites”, saying that in the past there was little information available to clients to truly understand the market, their portfolio or financial instruments.

In the two years since its inception, the startup has put together a team of around 30 employees, has continued to expand the platform ahead of this latest rollout, and now allows consumers to hold and invest money in pounds sterling, euros or US dollars.

Lightyear CEO Martin Sokk continues: “We look at investing money for your future as something fundamental. It should not be exclusive to an already privileged VIP club with lots of disposable income and insider knowledge. Or to people in selected countries. We want to offer everyone, no matter how much they invest, access to a complete package of products to help them in the future – that’s our mission. “