Lightyear — the Estonian-founded startup now operating across 25 European markets — has been named FinTech Company of the Year at Baltic Fintech Days 2026.
Now home to both global powerhouses and aspiring startups, the Estonian FinTech sector continues to deliver excellence. This week, Estonian-founded investment platform Lightyear has taken home the top prize at this year’s Baltic Fintech Days, being named FinTech Company of the Year at the annual awards ceremony held in Riga on Wednesday evening, as reported by Fomo Observer.
Baltic Fintech Days (BFD) is the region’s flagship fintech gathering. It began in 2022 as Fintech Day at Rockit — a 100-person event connecting fintech founders with regulators, investors, and financial institutions — before quickly growing to over 1000 attendees. In 2025, the event expanded its scope by partnering with Estonia and Latvia to extend the platform across all three Baltic states and teamed up with Nordic Fintech Magazine to amplify its regional profile.
Lightyear and its year of big wins
The award caps a strong run for Lightyear. Founded in 2021 by former Wise employees Martin Sokk and Mihkel Aamer, the now London-based platform gives users access to over 6,000 stocks, ETFs, and money market funds across global markets. Last July, it closed a $23M Series B funding round led by NordicNinja, bringing its total funding to $58M — with backing that reads like a who’s who of Estonian tech: investors include Bolt CEO Markus Villig, Wise co-founder Taavet Hinrikus, Checkout.com’s former CTO Ott Kaukver, and Skype founding engineer Jaan Tallinn.
Lightyear’s founders Mihkel Aamer and Martin Sokk. Photo by Lightyear
The funding coincided with Lightyear surpassing $1B in customer assets and expanding into Denmark, Sweden, and Bulgaria — bringing its footprint to 25 European markets in ten languages. The platform has also been rolling out AI-powered tools for retail investors, including features such as “Why Did It Move?” to explain sudden stock price shifts, and “Bulls Say, Bears Say” to present balanced perspectives on potential investments. It’s recent announcement was about bringing an EU-regulated crypto investment option to the platform.
The company’s trajectory has drawn recognition beyond fintech circles. Founders Mihkel Aamer and Martin Sokk were named EY Estonia’s Entrepreneurs of the Year earlier.
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