Light raised a $30 million Series A in September 2025 led by Balderton Capital. The round included participation from existing investors Atomico, Cherry Ventures, Seedcamp, and Entrée Capital, along with notable angels including Thomas Wolf from Hugging Face and Charles Songhurst from Meta's board.

The company previously raised a $13 million seed round in June 2024, bringing total funding to $43 million. The seed round was led by Atomico with participation from Cherry Ventures and Seedcamp.

Light rebuilds the entire back office of scaling companies around an AI-native general ledger that handles accounts receivable, accounts payable, expenses, purchasing, tax, and multi-currency consolidation in a single workspace.

The core innovation is an in-memory database that can query or post billions of transactions in under 500 milliseconds, making financial reports feel instantaneous even at multinational scale. The ledger is append-only and immutable, creating an automatic audit trail that eliminates the edit-after-post loopholes common in legacy ERP systems.

Light includes native multi-entity and multi-currency support with real-time conversion and automated valuation adjustments. AI-powered tax engines handle VAT, sales tax, and use tax across different jurisdictions automatically.

The platform features Account Autopilot, which uses fine-tuned models to read invoices and receipts in multiple languages, code line items, and post them automatically. A Virtual Finance Assistant lives in Slack or Microsoft Teams, allowing employees to request bill payments or spending reports in natural language.

For power users, Light offers a Command Interface that translates natural language requests into complex financial operations. Users can type commands like reallocating invoices between entities, and the system builds and posts the necessary journal entries automatically.

The platform connects to over 500 banks directly and syncs with CRM and HR systems. It also issues virtual vendor cards with per-vendor or per-transaction limits to consolidate payments and reduce duplicate subscriptions.

Light operates as a B2B SaaS platform targeting mid-market and multinational companies that have outgrown traditional accounting software but find enterprise ERP systems too complex and expensive.

The company positions itself as a direct replacement for Oracle NetSuite and similar ERP systems, offering free data migration and implementation timelines measured in weeks rather than months. This approach reduces switching costs and accelerates customer acquisition.

Light's pricing model appears to be subscription-based with per-entity pricing that scales with the complexity of multinational operations. The platform's native multi-currency and multi-entity capabilities create natural expansion revenue as customers grow internationally or add business units.

The business model benefits from high switching costs once implemented, as the general ledger becomes the system of record for all financial data. The AI automation layer creates additional stickiness by learning company-specific coding patterns and approval workflows over time.

Light's approach of rebuilding the entire financial stack rather than integrating with existing systems allows for tighter product integration but requires more upfront development investment. The company's focus on multinational capabilities targets a higher-value customer segment willing to pay premium prices for sophisticated functionality.

Light faces direct competition from other startups rebuilding financial software from scratch with AI at the core. Rillet raised a $70 million Series B in August 2025 and focuses on NetSuite replacement with deep Salesforce and Stripe integrations.

Digits launched an Autonomous General Ledger in March 2025 and has raised nearly $100 million from Benchmark and SoftBank, targeting SMBs with a hybrid AI plus human CPA model. Campfire raised a $35 million Series A in June 2025 and bundles general ledger, invoicing, and procurement into an AI-first system.

Numeric raised a $28 million Series A in October 2024 but focuses on automating month-end close processes rather than replacing the entire general ledger. These competitors generally compete on speed of NetSuite migration and AI-powered variance explanations.

Oracle NetSuite dominates the mid-market ERP space and is adding AI capabilities to defend against AI-native challengers. NetSuite benefits from deep integration ecosystems and established relationships with accounting firms and implementation partners.

Microsoft Dynamics, SAP, and other enterprise software giants are retrofitting AI onto their existing platforms while leveraging massive installed bases and enterprise sales relationships. These incumbents have regulatory compliance capabilities and audit firm relationships that new entrants must build from scratch.

Companies like Ramp, Brex, and other fintech platforms are expanding from expense management and corporate cards into broader financial automation. These players have strong banking relationships and payment processing capabilities that could extend into general ledger functionality.

Traditional accounting software providers like Intuit QuickBooks are adding AI features to retain customers who might otherwise upgrade to more sophisticated platforms. The risk is that improved AI capabilities in lower-end tools could reduce demand for enterprise replacements.

Light can expand into treasury and cash management by leveraging its existing 500+ bank connections and real-time multi-currency capabilities. Automated cash positioning, FX hedging, and short-term investing would capture wallet share from specialized treasury workstations.

The platform's partnership with JP Morgan and Adyen for payments infrastructure creates opportunities to launch corporate cards and bill-pay flows that sit natively on the ledger. This would mirror Ramp's success in expense management while generating interchange revenue.

A dedicated compliance suite for SOX dashboards and country-specific tax e-filing would monetize Light's deep audit trail and control framework. This positions the product as compliance-by-default for public company finance teams facing regulatory requirements.

Light's in-memory database architecture can handle billions of transactions, providing performance headroom to move upmarket from venture-backed tech firms to global retailers, marketplaces, and fintechs struggling with NetSuite scale limits.

Pre-built data models for specific verticals like SaaS deferred revenue, e-commerce inventory and sales tax, and crypto on-chain sub-ledgers could lower implementation friction and unlock price premiums similar to industry-specific ERP modules.

Partnering with Big Four and tier-two accounting firms would provide instant distribution as these firms face pressure to modernize client technology stacks. Outsourced bookkeeping mandates would create additional stickiness and recurring revenue opportunities.

Light has opened a London office and plans to open in New York to meet US demand, which would triple its addressable market since roughly 60% of global ERP spending occurs in the United States.

APAC expansion through Singapore hubs would serve export-heavy clients that already operate multi-entity structures and value AI-driven VAT and GST engines plus multi-currency consolidation capabilities.

Emerging market localization for automated e-invoicing in Brazil, Mexico, and India represents a regulatory tailwind where embedding compliance rules into the core platform creates competitive advantages over retrofitted solutions.

Incumbent response: Oracle NetSuite and other established ERP providers have deep pockets, existing customer relationships, and regulatory compliance capabilities that Light must build from scratch. If incumbents successfully integrate AI capabilities while leveraging their installed base advantages, Light's window for disruption could narrow significantly.

Implementation complexity: Despite promises of quick migrations, replacing a company's general ledger is inherently complex and risky. Any high-profile implementation failures or data migration issues could damage Light's reputation and slow customer acquisition in a market where financial accuracy and reliability are paramount.

Regulatory compliance: Financial software faces extensive regulatory requirements across different jurisdictions, and Light's multinational focus multiplies this complexity. Building and maintaining compliance capabilities for tax, audit, and reporting requirements across multiple countries requires significant ongoing investment and expertise that could strain resources as the company scales.