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Lightspark

Los Angeles, US · Founded 2022 · 90 employees on LinkedIn · 11 known investors

Find your way into Lightspark

190 people in our graph share verified history with the Lightspark team — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Elliot Geidtunlockedknows David Marcus · together at Nubank (overlapped)
×3knows the team · via Nubank
×3knows the team · via University of Geneva
×4knows the team · via FELIX CAPITAL
knows the team · via Tipping Point Community

Lightspark provides payment infrastructure and financial tools that enable businesses to modernize their payment systems and integrate with existing platforms. The company aims to make global money flows more accessible, affordable, and immediate for businesses worldwide.

Also known as Lightspark Group, Inc.

Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureFintech

Founders & leadership

Lightspark was founded in 2022 by David Marcus.

DMDavid Marcus
David Marcusin𝕏Co-Founder & CEOFounder and CEO of Lightspark, a payments infrastructure platform. Previously held roles in mobile, payments, and consumer internet technology.

Investors · 11

A.Capital VenturesSan Francisco
a16z cryptoMenlo Park
Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M
Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M
FELIX CAPITALLondon · $1M – $20M
Hivemind Ventures, Llcvia Max Webster · inferred
MatrixSan Francisco · $100K – $10M
NFXSan Francisco · $250K – $5M
ParadigmSan Francisco · $1M – $100M
Scribble VenturesPortola Valley · $750K – $1.5M
Thrive CapitalreportedNew York · $500K – $25M

Company profile

researched Aug 2026

Lightspark is a payments infrastructure company that describes itself as "the API for money" and as open infrastructure for moving money worldwide. Through a single integration, clients can send, receive, hold, spend and convert money in any currency, fiat or stablecoin, across more than 65 countries. Its product lines are grouped into four areas: Global Accounts (a dollar account for each of a client's users, card-enabled and with cash-out in 65+ countries); Payments (payouts, pay-ins, on/off ramps, cross-border transfers, stablecoin payments and agentic payments); Accounts & Cards (named virtual accounts, self-custody wallets, branded Visa cards, client-issued stablecoins and rewards); and DeFi & Trading (deposits and withdrawals between bank rails and on-chain balances, and swaps across fiat, stablecoins and Bitcoin).

The company's technical foundation is Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. Earlier coverage describes Lightspark as building software that lets participants connect to the Lightning Network without its historic cost and latency problems, and as pursuing a model where cross-border transfers convert a sending currency into Bitcoin and then into the recipient's local currency. Enterprise products named by the company include Connect, UMA (Universal Money Address), Spark (a Bitcoin Layer 2 announced in October 2024 and made live in April 2025) and Grid, launched in October 2025 for real-time global money movement powered by Bitcoin. Lightspark states SOC 2 Type II, NIST CSF and ISO 27001 security postures and completed SOC 2 Type 1 compliance in June 2024.

Named partners and customers referenced on the company's site and in its news archive include SoFi, Coinbase, Revolut, Nubank, Bitso, Shakepay, Unocoin, Yellow Card, Foxbit, BtcTurk | Kripto, Bitybank, Transfero, BlockBee, Cross River, Lithic and Hercle. A 2024 Fortune article noted that Stripe, Coinbase and Nubank were trying out Lightspark's tools, and that the company declined to disclose user or revenue figures at that time.

Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.

Key figures

latest reported
HeadcountAug 202690

Company-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.

Competitors · 10

by search overlap
Wise1092 shared keywordsWise is a financial platform offering international money transfers, multi-currency accounts, and debit cards with low fees and competitive exchange rates, serving millions of users globally.
Coinbase753 shared keywordsCoinbase is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that offers trading, custody, and financial services for cryptocurrencies, stocks, derivatives, and prediction markets to consumers, institutions, and developers. The company operates a full-stack infrastructure including secure custody, liquidity services, stablecoin infrastructure, and global settlement rails.
Stripe623 shared keywordsStripe provides financial infrastructure for businesses to accept payments, offer financial services, and implement custom revenue models across international markets in 135+ currencies.
Ledger601 shared keywordsLedger provides hardware and software cryptocurrency wallet solutions that enable users to buy, swap, earn, and manage digital assets with security features and portfolio tracking capabilities across multiple blockchain networks.
Crypto548 shared keywordsCrypto.com operates a cryptocurrency exchange and digital asset platform serving 150 million users across 90 countries, with a mission to accelerate global adoption of cryptocurrency.
Modern Treasury497 shared keywordsModern Treasury provides a payments infrastructure platform that enables businesses to move and track money across fiat and stablecoin rails through a single API. The company serves enterprises and financial service providers looking to streamline payment operations across multiple currencies, regions, and payment systems.
Jetlore480 shared keywordsJetlore was a Palo Alto AI startup that turned unstructured retail product data into structured attributes so merchants could personalise what each shopper saw. Founded by Stanford researchers, it raised from Sierra Ventures, Alsop Louie Partners, Fenox Venture Capital, BRM Capital and Mercury Fund, and PayPal acquired it in 2018.
CoinGecko434 shared keywordsCoinGecko is the world's largest independent cryptocurrency data aggregator, providing comprehensive market data including price, volume, and market capitalization across thousands of cryptoassets. It serves millions of users globally with tools, research, and APIs for cryptocurrency market analysis and insights.
Chainlink389 shared keywordsChainlink is an oracle platform that connects onchain applications with offchain data and external systems, serving major financial institutions and DeFi protocols with standards for data, interoperability, compliance, and privacy. The platform enables developers to build tokenized assets, cross-chain workflows, and institutional-grade blockchain applications across capital markets and decentralized finance.
CoinTracker386 shared keywordsCoinTracker is crypto portfolio tracking and tax software that syncs wallets and exchanges to generate IRS-ready tax forms.

Companies competing with Lightspark for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.

In the news

Fortunefortune.com · Apr 2023a16z: Investing in Lightsparka16z.com · May 2022Investing in Lightspark | Andreessen Horowitza16z.com · May 2022

▸Research sources · 8

primary sources listed

8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.

Frequently asked questions

What does Lightspark do?
Lightspark offers API-based infrastructure for global accounts, payments, cards and stablecoins across 65+ countries.
Who founded Lightspark?
Lightspark was founded by David Marcus in 2022.
Who are Lightspark's investors?
Lightspark's investors include A.Capital Ventures, a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz, Coatue Management, FELIX CAPITAL, Hivemind Ventures, Llc, Matrix, NFX and 3 more.
Where is Lightspark headquartered?
Lightspark is headquartered in Los Angeles, US.