鈥淗aving spent my career in financial services, I鈥檝e seen the good, the bad and the ugly. I believe retail investing in Europe is still very much 鈥榯he听ugly鈥�.鈥�听
Mihkel听Aamer, along with听fellow听former听TransferWise听colleague听Martin Sokk, decided last year to do something about what they saw as a broken investment model.听
Both regular investors themselves, Sokk and Aamer felt first-hand听the frustrations of high fees, hidden costs and the complicated nature of investing products.听
The duo hired alumni from a collective of FinTech听giants, including Wise 鈥� the rebranded TransferWise 鈥� Robinhood and听Revolut听to build a听commission-free trading app听which lowers the barrier to entry.听
Lightyear, set to start rolling out in Q3 2021,听marries multi-currency accounts听with unlimited access to global markets so customers can invest without hidden fees.听
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The start-up raised 拢1 million pre-seed funding from Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise, Sten Tamkivi, co-founder of Teleport, and Jaan Tallinn, co-founder of Skype, along with prominent angel investors Ott Kaukver, the CTO at checkout.com, Wander Rutgers, the former President of Robinhood UK and Kaarel Kotkas, the founder of Veriff.听
Its MVP product will be launching with unlimited access听to over 1,500 global stocks and ETFs. There are听no trading fees, no account fees and no FX fees up to 拢3,000 per month. After customers exceed that, there will be a 0.35% FX fee.听听
With competitors across听Europe charging retail investors a range of FX fees, custody fees and trading fees, upon launch Lightyear will be one of the most cost-effective ways to invest.听
Following his Spaghetti Western analogy, CTO Aamer听added:听鈥淲e鈥檙e talking about sneaky fees, less access and complicated products remaining as the status quo.听听
鈥淲e鈥檙e building something that will change that by opening up investing up to everyone, whichever global market they want to invest in and however much they want to invest.鈥�听
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CEO Sokk added:听鈥淚nvesting in Europe is a very long way away from where it needs to be.听听
鈥淧rofessional and experienced investors have good options open to them with clear pricing and best-in-class tools, but ordinary investors don鈥檛 have that.听听
鈥淟ightyear is going to be Europe鈥檚听first truly commission-free investment听platform, and听using our experience with transforming how the world approaches currency conversion, our goal is to completely change the name of the game when it comes听to investing.鈥�听
Lightyear today launches its waiting list, inviting people to sign听up and register their interest in getting early access to the app when it launches later this year.听听
Upon launch, the first 2,000 customers will receive 拢10 to invest in a stock of their choice, and听waitlisters听will get the chance to be part of the beta testing听community for future product launches.听
Hinrikus听added: 鈥淢ost things in our lives are available at the tap听of a button or with a good internet connection, yet access to global financial markets is still murky and expensive.听听
鈥淭he potential here to听open up investing for everyone, much further than just their local markets, is very exciting.听听
鈥淕iving everybody access听to the best deal when it comes to their money is in my DNA, so I鈥檓 excited to support Lightyear on this mission.鈥�听