Fintech firm Lightyear, which launched in the UK last year, recently announced the addition of new features: limit orders, auto conversions and exportable activity statements.
Lightyear has also “formally appointed two of its seed investors as advisors, Wander Rutgers and Joe Cross.”
Lightyear, founded by early Wise alumni Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, was “born from personal frustrations with investing in Europe.”
Hidden fees, confusing user experiences and lack of access to international markets “has been very much the norm.”
With their recently secured Estonian license, Lightyear “is looking to become one of the only investment apps available across Europe.”
Since its launch, the Lightyear product has “seen constant new additions to the product — the company tripled its stock universe in 5 weeks and brought out its first social investment product in the space of 5 weeks.”
Now, the company has “released limit orders and auto conversions, both highly requested features.”
As noted in an update shared with Crowdfund Insider, limit orders “allow users to control the price they pay for buying a stock, or selling one.”
As explained in the announcement, auto conversion “will convert a user’s balances to the local currency when they’re buying stocks, at the live interbank rate.”
To help fuel their next phase of growth, the business has also “appointed two advisors with extensive industry experience in personal finance and fintech.”
Wander Rutgers “is Robinhood UK’s former President who spent three years working on international expansion at Wise before leading the Product team at consumer fintech app Plum, where he still serves as an advisor.”
Joe Cross, former global marketing head at Wise and current early-stage investor with the Atomico Angel Program, “is also joining Lightyear’s advisory team and brings a decade of startup marketing experience with him.”
Rutgers will be “focused on helping Lightyear with European expansion and regulatory matters, while Cross will help the business build and grow its brand.”
The pair, both early seed investors in Lightyear, are excited “to get more involved in the day-to-day and help the company as it embarks on its expansion across the continent.”
Wander Rutgers, Lightyear advisor, stated:
“I’m incredibly excited to join the Lightyear team as they take on the European market. There’s so much work to be done across Europe. No broker has been able to expand across the continent, leaving many countries only offering investments through local banks, hitting customers with high fees and a super clunky experience. My experience in building consumer finance products that millions of people love and trust has taught me a lot that I can pass onto the Lightyear team as we get going this year.”
Martin Sokk, CEO and co-founder at Lightyear, remarked:
“We’re moving at an incredible pace, listening to our UK customers for their feedback and launching highly requested new features and products. The strength of our team and the breadth of experience we can now call upon with Wander and Joe on our roster is vital as we take on this next phase of growth across Europe.”
As covered, Lightyear is “a simple and approachable way to invest your money globally without unnecessary barriers or fees.”
Founded in October 2020 by Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, both early Wise (formerly TransferWise) employees, Lightyear “has offices in London, UK and Tallinn, Estonia.”
The company is “an appointed representative of RiskSave Technologies Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 775330).”
The company has “raised $10 million to date and is backed by Mosaic Ventures, Metaplanet, Taavet Hinrikus, the co-founder of Wise and Sten Tamkivi, founder of Teleport.”
Other investors “include early Monzo backer and HM Treasury Special Envoy for Fintech Eileen Burbidge MBE, Robinhood UK’s Wander Rutgers, Ott Kaukver of checkout.com and Kaarel Kotkas, the founder of Veriff.”