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Some of the biggest names of the Estonian technology scene are supported by Lightyear, which seeks to become a response in Europe without a commission trading pioneer Marvelous.
Based in London, Lightyear is developing an application that allows users to invest in a number of more than 5,000 shares, exchanges and cash. In 2021, it was founded by two former wise staff, Martin Sokk and Mikhkel Amer.
The company intends to report later on Thursday that it raised $ 23 million in a new financing round, led by Nordicin, a Japanese Venture Capital Fund based in Europe. The Estonian technology entrepreneur also invested Markus Vilig, which co -established a unicorn.
The CEO Lightyear Sokak said CNBC that the company did not necessarily need to raise more money for business, but decided to do so from the participation of investors.
“People like Marcus have built massive companies in many, many markets, and it’s really really exciting for us because it’s so hard to go to all markets and understand their local dynamics and what people need,” he said.
Currently, Lightyear is working in 25 countries. However, with the help of Angel Investors such as Bolt’s Villig, the firm will be able to launch five more markets “pretty fast”, – said Sokk.
Vilig said CNBC that it could be “difficult to scale business in different countries in a strong sector,” adding that the less developed investment market in Europe provides extensive breakdown opportunities.
Other Estonian angelic investors who previously supported Lightyear also participated in the financing round, including the wise co -founder of Taavet Hinrikus, the former Occreout.com Chief Director of Technology from Caukver and Skype Founder Jaan Tallinn.
Estonia is widely considered a well -known technology center in Europe. The country has the largest number of unicorn per capita in Europe, reports Estonian Investment Agency. Meanwhile, Scheme of Estonian Electronic Residence He also allowed foreigners to become digital residents and launch their companies in the country.
The new round-five-year Lightyear is 200 to $ 300 million, which is much higher than its estimate in 2022 when it raised 25 million dollarsAccording to two people, acquaintances with this issue, who preferred to remain unknown because the information was not voiced.
Pushing in the II, the cry
Along with additional funding, Lightyear also launches new features of artificial intelligence. AI was a hot sphere of investment for startups after explosive popularity of AI generative services such as Chatgpt Openai.
One of the features called “why it was moving” allows users to select the point of time on the stock chart and see what happened on this day to call the jump or fall into the company’s stock. The firm also uses AI to provide dissertations “Bull” and “Bear” on stocks, as well as short asset updates in their portfolios.
“In the end, you will have two models” when it comes to investing, according to Sokka: “Money for self -government”, where you ask the II to reach certain investment goals and “handmade gear” to find out different strategies and approaches yourself.
However, the market of investment products online is strongly competitive. Lightyear is confronted with some hefty competition both by the current brokerage services and more modern technological players such as Robinhood, Revolut and Trade Republic.
However, Sokk insists that Lightyear builds a fairly differentiated product to stand out from the crowd. While competitors such as Robinhood Profit from risk -free products such as crying and trading margin, Lightyear is focused on servicing long -term investors, he said CNBC.
To this end, Sauk said that Lightyear plans to expand its own kryptus in two months, which is “more focused on the long-term form”.
