Lightyear Raises $31M to Reinvent Enterprise Telecom Experience

Lightyear, the provider of enterprise telecom management software, has completed its $31 million Series B fundraise led by Altos Ventures, with meaningful participation from existing investors Ridge Ventures, Amplo, Zigg Capital, and Susa Ventures.

This new round of funding comes at the heels of major product milestones, including the launch of Lightyear's Network Inventory Manager, Bill Consolidation, and API offerings, as well as major achievements in revenue and customer growth.

Founded by Dennis Thankachan (CEO) and Ryan Schrack (CTO) in 2019, Lightyear's Telecom Operating System has revolutionized the enterprise telecom experience with AI software that streamlines and digitizes network service procurement, inventory management, and bill payment. Enterprises who leverage Lightyear across the full telecom lifecycle spend exponentially less time on telecom management while reducing telecom costs significantly.

Lightyear is trusted by 300+ enterprises and 5,000+ enterprise users worldwide, including the likes of Alo Yoga, Palo Alto Networks, Five Guys, Pandora Jewelry, and Teladoc. Lightyear also works with 1,000+ ISPs and telecom service providers spanning the globe.

This Series B round marks another major milestone in Lightyear's growth. "Enterprise telecom management is a decades-old problem that's exceptionally difficult to solve due to the lack of data transparency, workflow standardization, and digitization that exists across the thousands of global carriers. This Series B funding is a testament to the years of hard work from our team, culminating in the first-ever software product to properly address each problem area of the telecom lifecycle. With this new funding, we're poised to continue aggressively innovating against customer pain points," said Lightyear CEO Dennis Thankachan.

"Lightyear's software has modernized the way enterprise IT and networking teams manage their telecom infrastructure, saving them countless hours of tedious work," said Zac Mohring, Principal at Altos Ventures. "The company's top-tier growth, retention, and commitment to excellence are driving the industry forward. We're extremely proud of what Dennis, Ryan, Suhith, Rob, and the entire Lightyear team have built, and are thrilled to be a part of their journey."

The Series B funding will be directed toward continued product innovation within Lightyear's Telecom Operating System platform, adding depth within its three core product lines (Procurement, Network Inventory Management, Bill Consolidation), while also building new products and features around network monitoring, AI, bulk site procurement and more. Further, Series B funding will allow Lightyear to invest more deeply in customer experience and support improvements.

Lightyear is the only digital workflow and system of record platform that unlocks efficiency across the full lifecycle for enterprise telecom services, revolutionizing the telecom experience to drive material time and cost savings.

Lightyear's Procurement platform automates RFP creation, quoting, install management, and more for internet, WAN, voice, and colocation services, reducing time spent on procurement materially while network intelligence and pricing data ensures enterprises select the optimal solution at the lowest cost. Lightyear's Network Inventory Manager creates a digital system of record for enterprise networks, tracking 30+ data points per service (static IPs, contract details, account IDs) and automating lifecycle management workflows such as MACD ticketing and renewal re-shopping. Lightyear's Bill Consolidation software offers enterprises one consolidated bill for all telecom services, eliminating the headache of tracking invoices and handling audits while avoiding service disruptions.