Lightyear app.
lightweight
Some of the biggest names in Estonia’s high-tech scene support lightyear.
London-based Lightyear develops an app that allows users to invest in over 5,000 stocks, funds traded on exchanges, and money market funds. It was founded in 2021 by two former wise employees, Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer.
The company is scheduled to announce it has raised $23 million in new funding later Thursday, led by Nordicninja, a European-based, Japan-backed venture capital fund. Estonian tech entrepreneur Marcus Villig co-founded Unicorn Bolt on board.
Lightyear CEO Sokk told CNBC that the company doesn’t necessarily have to raise more cash for the business, but it chose to do so because of the caliber of investors involved.
“People like Marx have built large companies in many markets, which is really exciting for us because it’s very difficult to go to all the markets and understand their local dynamics and what people need,” he said.
Lightyear is currently open in 25 countries. But with the help of angel investors like Bolt’s Villig, the company can launch “quite quickly” in five other markets, Sokk said.
Villig told CNBC “It is difficult to expand business in multiple countries in the regulated sector,” adding that Europe’s undeveloped retail investment market offers ample opportunities for disruption.
Other Estonian Angel investors who previously supported Lightyear also participated in funding rounds, including Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, former Chief Technology Officer Ott Kaukver, and Skype Founding Engineer Jaan Tallin.
Estonia is widely considered to be a prominent high-tech hub in Europe. According to Estonian investment institutions, the country has the highest per capita unicorns in Europe. Meanwhile, the Estonian e-resident scheme allowed foreigners to become digital residents and start companies within the country.
The new round value five years ago was between $200 million and $300 million, which is significantly higher than its valuation in 2022, according to two people who prefer to remain anonymous as the information is not publicly available.
ai, push into code
In addition to additional funding, Lightyear has also launched a new AI feature. AI is a hot field of investment for startups following the explosive popularity of AI services like Openai’s ChatGPT.
One feature called “Why did it move?” allows users to select the time point in the stock chart, see what happened that day, and jump or fall to the company’s stock price. The company also uses AI to provide “bugs” and “bears” papers to stocks, providing short updates to assets in its own portfolio.
According to SOKK, “In the end, there are two models, two models”: “Automatic Driving Money,” asking AI to achieve specific investment goals and then asking for a “manual gearbox” approach that lets you understand the different strategies and approaches yourself.
Still, the market for online investment products is very competitive. Lightyear faces heavy competition from both more modern high-tech players such as Robinhood, Revolut and Trade Republic, as well as current brokerage companies.
However, Sokk claims that Lightyear is building a product that is noticeably differentiated from the crowd. Competitors like Robinhood benefit from offering dangerous products like Crypto and Margin Trading, while Lightyear focuses on serving long-term investors.
To that end, Sokk said Lightyear plans to roll out its own crypto products in two months.
