AI Finance Startup Light Raises Funding from Revolut Backer Balderton

Copenhagen-based startup Light has secured $30 million in Series A funding, signaling continued investor confidence in the burgeoning AI-powered finance automation sector. The round, led by Balderton Capital, known for its early investments in fintech heavyweights like Revolut and GoCardless, also saw participation from Atomico, Cherry Ventures, Seedcamp, and Entrée Capital, as well as prominent angel investors including Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf and Meta board member Charlie Songhurst.

Founded in 2022, Light is developing AI-driven software designed to streamline and automate core financial processes for businesses, including accounting, bookkeeping, and financial reporting. The company’s technology aims to alleviate the burden on finance teams by intelligently processing and interpreting financial data, ultimately leading to increased efficiency and accuracy.

Jonathan Sanders, CEO and co-founder of Light, told CNBC that the new capital will be used to aggressively expand the company’s commercial operations. This includes bolstering the team and establishing a stronger presence in key markets. Following the recent launch of their London office, Light is now planning to open an office in New York City to capitalize on the growing demand for its solutions in the U.S. market.

Light is entering a competitive landscape with established players and emerging startups also leveraging AI to transform financial management. Pigment, a business planning and forecasting platform positioning itself as a more intuitive alternative to Microsoft Excel, recently raised $145 million, achieving a valuation exceeding $1 billion. Meanwhile, accounting software startup Pennylane secured 75 million euros, doubling its valuation to 2 billion euros, with backing from Alphabet’s venture capital arm.

The broader financial software market is currently dominated by industry giants like Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. However, Light argues that these legacy systems are often complex and require extensive customization, leading to prolonged implementation times and ongoing maintenance costs. According to Sanders, these systems often require dedicated specialists who spend significant time making the system fully operational.

Light aims to differentiate itself by offering a more agile and user-friendly AI-powered solution tailored to the needs of fast-growing, rapidly scaling companies. “We service fast-growing, fast-scaling companies who need a system where they can expand really fast,” Sanders stated. The company boasts a client roster that includes Lovable, the Swedish AI firm recently valued at $2 billion, and Sana Labs, which is being acquired by Workday for $1.1 billion, showcasing the adoption of Light’s technology by other innovative companies in the AI space. This highlights the potential synergy between AI-driven solutions and other disruptors.

Sanders emphasizes the transformative potential of AI in revolutionizing financial processes. “The future of numbers is text,” he asserts, highlighting the ability of AI to extract and interpret critical information from unstructured data. He illustrates this with the example of automating the process of determining a team’s meal allowance by leveraging an AI agent with access to relevant company policies, eliminating the need for manual review.

Looking ahead, Light is targeting larger enterprise clients that are grappling with inefficient workflows and outdated processes. Sanders explains that the sheer volume and complexity of information within large organizations make it impossible for human teams to consistently analyze, reconcile, and update policies, leading to inconsistencies and errors. “No human team can continuously analyze, reconcile and update thousands of pages of policies for coherence,” he told CNBC, underscoring the value proposition of Light’s AI-powered solution in providing greater accuracy and efficiency in financial management.