Lightyear to double NI workforce with over £1m investment

Lightyear offers cloud-based procurement and invoice processing automation software to SMEs and mid-market companies across the world. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product increases workplace efficiencies and team collaboration through data extraction and customisable workflows for businesses.

Chris Gregg, Lightyear founder and CEO, said: “COVID-19 has changed the needs of businesses globally. With the majority of companies and their people now working remotely, teams are unable to process the paper that they traditionally would have. With our award-winning software being truly paperless, we have seen a surge of new customers across diverse industries.

“We have identified new opportunities in the education, retail and fuel distribution industries in Great Britain, Republic of Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and have signed strategic partnerships with key accounting software providers that specialise in these industries. We have also recently been certificated to ISO27001 standard, which will enhance our expertise to customers on the global stage.

“The 12 new roles will expand the capability of our team so that we can capitalise on these new sectors and start to break into new international markets such as the US. We have started recruiting and are already impressed with the high level of talent we have been able to add to the team.”

Invest Northern Ireland helped to secure Lightyear’s initial investment in Northern Ireland in March 2018 and has since offered support towards job creation, R&D and technical product support to develop its software product and trade assistance. This latest offer provides £90,000 towards the creation of 12 jobs.

Chris added: “Since helping us to establish in Northern Ireland, Invest NI has continued to be a great source of support to us. Its teams in both Northern Ireland and Australia have given us a wealth of insight into both markets and guided us to explore new industries and potential export markets. As part of our growth plans, we have moved to 5,000sq ft new offices in Catalyst in the Titanic Quarter; this is treble the size of our previous office and sets us up to scale.”

Susan O’Kane, Invest NI’s Eastern Regional Manager said: “Throughout the pandemic, investing in digital technology has been important for companies to remain resilient. Developed with Invest NI’s R&D support, Lightyear’s intelligent software has been met with great success helping companies transition to remote workforces by delivering a paperless office, eliminating data entry and automating complex invoice approvals processes.

“This strategic reinvestment is a great endorsement of Lightyear’s experience in Northern Ireland so far and as we rebuild our economy, is a welcome boost for our Fintech sector. Once in place, the jobs will contribute almost half a million pounds in additional annual salaries to our local economy.”

Recruitment is underway with job opportunities include software developers, sales, marketing, customer service and management level positions.

Along with its Belfast headquarters, Lightyear also has an office in New South Wales, Australia. In the past two years, the company has on-boarded over 3,000 customers across 11 countries.

Invest NI’s R&D support is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the EU Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014–2020.

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