Lightyear: Invest in stocks

Lightyear Investing

About this app

Capital at risk.

Lightyear is an investing platform founded by an ex-Wise duo, headquartered in London, and operating in 22 European countries. It provides low-cost access to the international stock market, and interest on uninvested cash.

Individuals – as well as businesses in some countries – can download Lightyear’s cash & stock investing app, and open a multi-currency account. From there, you can deposit, hold and invest your cash into the world's stock markets in EUR, GBP and USD. Your uninvested cash will benefit from the central bank’s rate minus a fixed 0.75% fee. The cash & stock app is available for both Android and iOS users. Lightyear also has a web platform from which you can access your stocks and shares, invest and market-watch.

To get investing – just download the app, open your multi-currency investment account, and type in the ticker or company you’re interested in investing in! And remember, the cash you don’t use to invest will earn interest.

MULTICURRENCY ACCOUNTS

Invest in the international stock market – Lightyear connects with the world’s largest exchanges across Europe and the US so you can invest in international stocks and shares.

GBP, EUR, and USD – you can hold cash in your investment account in pounds, euros and dollars. These accounts are free. You only pay an FX fee once, when you’re buying and selling in that currency (instead of for every transaction, like many other companies).

Earn interest on uninvested cash – the money you’re not using for stock trading will benefit from an interest rate that moves with the Central Bank Rate (see current rates on uninvested cash at lightyear.com/pricing).

FUNDS & STOCK TRADING:

Stock trading – invest from a choice of over 3,500 international stocks and funds.

Market-watch – research by stock ticker and add your favourite stocks and shares to your market-watch list.

ETFs – invest in exchange traded funds from Vanguard, Amundi, iShares, and more, on the most popular indexes.

Stocks and shares – fractional shares in US stocks available.

LIGHTYEAR STOCK INVESTING APP WON ‘BEST UX OF THE YEAR’

We won the "Best UX of the Year” award from Altfi in 2021 for our stock investing app.

Our cash & stock app is available in 22 countries.

SECURITY AND REGULATIONS

Your assets – both cash in your account and your securities (all your stocks and shares) - belong to you, not Lightyear. They’re held in a clients' assets account on your behalf.

Your assets are covered up to the amount of 20,000 EUR by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund.

US securities are protected up to the value of $500,000.

Protection does not cover losses from investing in the stock market.

Read more here: lightyear.com/gb/help/deposits-conversions-and-withdrawals/how-are-my-assets-protected

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Ex-Wise duo Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer founded investment platform Lightyear in 2020.

INVESTMENTS AND LAUNCHES: Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder and Chairman of Wise, was Lightyear’s angel investor in its $1.5m pre-seed investment round. Lightyear launched in the UK in September 2021, raising an additional $8.5M in investment, led by Mosaic Ventures. The investment platform then launched in 19 countries in Europe, in July 2022, having raised $25 million in its Series A round of investment, led by U.S. venture capital firm Lightspeed; other notable investments included Virgin Group, which counts Richard Branson as its sole shareholder.

Capital at risk. The provider of investment services is Lightyear Financial Ltd for the UK and Lightyear Europe AS for the EU. Terms apply – lightyear.com/terms. Seek qualified advice if necessary.

Ratings and reviews

I've used many different financial apps and this one has been the easiest to navigate. Their minimum deposit is low, making it easy for anyone to start out. Also offers significant news on your watchlist which is helpful. However, one very big issue I have with it is that you can't simply add an account to withdraw money into. The account I first used to deposit has since been closed and now I can't withdraw my money unless I deposit again. Would increase star rating if this was sorted out.

Not reliable. Recently facing a problem to login to my account. Especially when I see a good stock price and try to login, this is really 🤬

There is something very wrong with the execution of orders. My limit order was not executed despite the market price falling below the limit price several times. This happened for long enough time that I'm sure not because of delay in Market Data. Is it on purpose some how? This should not happen if you really send the orders to exchange. Please investigate and fix. Thanks.

What's new

This release is mostly for straightening some lines and smoothing some corners. Along with some translation fixes. And performance improvements. And quality of life improvements.