Investment firm Lightyear has closed a $23 million Series B funding round as it eyes opportunities to bring artificial intelligence to it platform.
The new financing was led by European-Japanese venture capital firm NordicNinja, alongside Superangel, SpecialistVC and previous investors.
The funds will be used to launch Lightyear AI, a new suite of products offering up-to-date market insights and coincides with the platform achieving $1bn in customer assets.
The funding round comes as Lightyear expands into three new markets of Sweden, Denmark and Bulgaria and releases new features that break open access to expert analysis and financial news, summarised in the context of a user’s portfolio and what they’re looking at.
The new ‘Why Did It Move’ feature allows users to tap on a historical point in time on an instrument chart and see a summary of what happened for the spike or dip. An interactive ‘Bulls Say, Bears Say’ tool analyses hundreds of trusted sources, building a case both for and against an instrument. Finally, ‘Lightning Updates’ gives users bite-sized updates on the instruments a user holds or watches, the macro climate, and market sentiment.
Next up, Lightyear plans to further evolve its AI arm to bring broad wealth management capabilities into the hands of retail investors.
Having raised $58 million to date, the firm - which was founded by two early Wise employees - continues to welcome notable angel investors, such as Wise’s Taavet Hinrikus, Checkout.com’s Ott Kaukver and Skype’s Jaan Tallinn. New in this Series B round, Lightyear welcomes Bolt’s founder and CEO, Markus Villig.
Martin Sokk, CEO and co-founder of Lightyear, says: “This Series B round is a huge vote of confidence in the untapped potential of investing in Europe. Driving meaningful progress in this market means removing barriers to entry and demystifying investing for ordinary people, and that’s why we feel so strongly about our vision for AI and the future of investing."