UK based stock trading startup Light-year is finally expanding to the web, almost two years after the company first emerged from the underground.
Founded in London in 2020, Lightyear is one of several fintechs promising an easy conduit for the general public to invest their money in some of the world’s biggest companies. But while mobile may be the preeminent internet device For most people these days, people still like the option to look at their investments in a larger screen device like a laptop, and that’s what Lightyear now offers.
The company said a web-based interface has been its “most requested feature” since its launch in 2021, and today it follows in the footsteps of others in the space, such as European rival Freetrade, landing on the web. exactly one year ago, although it remains in beta and is only available to premium subscribers for now. Another European neobroker called Bux It is also working on a web application, although there is no indication of when it might be released. Across the water in the US, Robinhood launched its web version on the market in 2017four years after launch.
In short, Lightyear really has to match its rivals at the very least, and access to the big screen could be a deal breaker for potential customers.
“Many investors prefer to manage their portfolios on the big screen, including myself,” Lightyear co-founder and CEO Martin Sokk said in a statement. “We knew that a web application would be part of Lightyear’s journey for the long term, but in speaking with customers we quickly realized that this was not something we should be leaving in the future.”
Lightyear comes to the web image credits: Light-year
Lightyear has secured some $35 million in funding from a host of high-profile angel and institutional investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus. While the trading platform was initially limited to the UK market, Lightyear expanded to continental Europe last summer.
The new web application will support most of the features of the core platform, allowing users to manage their portfolios and make transactions, and track the performance of their portfolio. However, there are some differences, for example, the main portfolio screen has a drag chart view that allows users to see how their stocks are performing over a custom time period.
While the company plans other web-only features in the long term, the initial release of the web app will lack some key mobile app features that will be added over time, such as the custom “events” calendar for own actions, analyst price targets and fund highlights.
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