Martin Sokk is a lifelong product builder in the finance world. He was the first product person at Wise where he was responsible for building the company’s offering and performance. Martin began working with Lightyear’s CTO & co-founder, Mihkel Aamer, on the idea for Lightyear in the summer of 2020. After meeting for a coffee to catch up, they both quickly realised that they shared a strong opinion: investing in the UK and Europe is still broken.
As regular investors themselves, they shared frustrations with having to use multiple platforms for different outcomes, experiencing firsthand the high fees, sneaky hidden costs and the complicated nature of investing. The idea for Lightyear was born out of a personal frustration that they both realised could help millions of people across the UK and Europe.