London-based fintech startup, Lightyear, has raised $23 million in a funding round led by NordicNinja, a VC fund that focuses on early-stage companies operating in Northern Europe, which launched in 2019.
The Lightyear investment platform allows users to trade in stocks, exchange-traded and money market funds. Lightyear operates at present in 25 countries, and hopes to expand into five more on the back of the latest investment.
The company’s CEO, Martin Sokk, says Lightyear’s focus will be on long-term investments and be aimed at a more conservative investor than those attracted to platforms that include more volatile offerings, such as cryptocurrency trading. But Lightyear does have plans to introduce its own cryptocurrency product in the next few months, albeit one that will emphasise long-term investment.
The latest round of backers include several Estonians, including Markus Villig, founder of Estonian ride-hailing company Bolt, Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, and one of the founding engineers behind the recently-shuttered Skype platform, Jaan Tallinn.
Estonia remains a technology hub in Europe, with one of the highest numbers of unicorn companies per head of population on the continent. Estonia’s position comes as a result of a positive decision made in the 1990s by the government to develop a knowledge-based economy after the downfall of the Soviet Union.
Lightyear joins and will compete with similar platforms such as eToro, Revolut, Trade Republic, and Robinhood. Its avoidance of more volatile markets in which to offer trading and its European roots should ensure that it is not subject to the same levels of government censure that have bedevilled Israel-based eToro, and US company RobinHood.
eToro agreed in September 2024 to a $1.5 million settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to curtail its cryptocurrency-related operations for US customers, limiting its offerings to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Bitcoin Cash.
Robinhood has received several fines in the US from several regulatory bodies to a value of around $100 million to date, and is the subject of several ongoing class-action lawsuits. Its dynamic, fast-growing business model and relatively short history epitomises the treading of the fine line between the statutory compliance required of registered financial institutions and the more open, less-regulated internet-based finance company.
The Lightyear platform will offer some AI features, including a facility that will help investors investigate the reasons behind market shifts without the onerous burden of researching the issues themselves. The platform will also use AI to produce bull- and bear-like evaluations of markets in a simulacrum of real financial analysis.
Lightyear was formed in 2020 after its founders, Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer (both former Wise, né TransferWise, executives) decided to produce a trading platform that was more transparent with regards to trading fees than the existing offerings on the market.
The company currently holds $1 billion in customer assets.
(Image source: “Bull and Bear” by michaelmusashi is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.)
