Danish startup Light just closed a $30 million Series A round led by Balderton Capital, the same firm that backed fintech unicorns Revolut and GoCardless. The Copenhagen-based company is betting AI can finally crack the decades-old corporate accounting software market dominated by Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. With customers like buzzy AI firm Lovable and Workday acquisition target Sana Labs already on board, Light's timing couldn't be better as European VCs hunt for the next big AI play.
Light just became the latest European startup to cash in on the AI boom sweeping through venture capital. The Danish company closed a $30 million Series A round led by Balderton Capital, putting it in prestigious company alongside the firm's previous fintech bets Revolut and GoCardless.
Founded in 2022, Light develops software that uses artificial intelligence to automate the grunt work plaguing corporate finance teams - accounting, bookkeeping, and financial reporting. CEO and co-founder Jonathan Sanders told CNBC the Copenhagen-headquartered startup plans to "double down on the commercial side" with its fresh cash.
The funding round attracted a who's who of European venture capital. Atomico, Cherry Ventures, Seedcamp, and Entrée Capital all participated, along with notable angel investors including Hugging Face co-founder Thomas Wolf and Meta board member Charlie Songhurst. The investor lineup signals serious confidence in Light's approach to disrupting a market that's been stuck in the past.
Light isn't operating in a vacuum. The AI-powered finance software space is heating up fast, with European startups leading the charge. Pigment, which positions itself as a more user-friendly alternative to Microsoft Excel for business planning, raised $145 million last year at a valuation north of $1 billion. More recently, accounting software startup Pennylane secured €75 million, doubling its valuation to €2 billion.
The competition makes sense when you look at what Light is up against. The corporate finance software market is dominated by legacy giants Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP - systems that Sanders describes as cumbersome beasts requiring specialists to "tinker around the edges for a year or two just to make it work." That's exactly the opening Light is targeting.
"We service fast-growing, fast-scaling companies who need a system where they can expand really fast," Sanders explained to CNBC. Light's customer roster backs up that claim, including Lovable, the buzzy Swedish AI firm recently valued at $2 billion, and Sana Labs, which Workday is acquiring for $1.1 billion.
Sanders believes AI can fundamentally transform how companies handle their finances. "The future of numbers is text," he told CNBC, pointing to AI agents that can automatically parse company policies to find relevant information like team meal allowances instead of forcing humans to dig through documentation manually.
The startup is already expanding beyond its Copenhagen roots, recently opening a London office and planning a New York location to capitalize on U.S. demand. That international push reflects Light's ambitions to tackle large enterprise customers struggling with what Sanders calls "broken processes and workflows." As he puts it, "No human team can continuously analyze, reconcile and update thousands of pages of policies for coherence."
Light's funding comes as European tech firms ride a wave of investor interest in AI applications. The $30 million round positions the startup to compete directly with established players while the market is still figuring out which AI-powered approaches will stick. With Balderton's track record backing fintech winners and Light's focus on solving real enterprise pain points, the Danish startup is betting it can be the one to finally modernize corporate accounting.
Light's $30 million raise signals that European AI startups are finding their footing in the competitive enterprise software market. With Balderton's backing and a customer base of high-growth companies already proving the concept works, Light is positioned to challenge the legacy giants that have controlled corporate finance software for decades. The real test will be whether its AI-first approach can scale fast enough to capture market share before the Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP of the world catch up with their own AI initiatives.
