Enterprise Telecom Software Company Lightyear Raises $31 Million

Lightyear, provider of enterprise telecom management software, today announced the completion of its $31 million Series B fundraising round. The new funding comes after the company launched their Network Inventory Manager, Bill Consolidation, and API offerings, as well as revenue and customer growth milestones.

The funding round was led by Altos Ventures, with participation from existing investors Ridge Ventures, Amplo, Zigg Capital, and Susa Ventures.

Lightyear is relatively new to the industry, founded by Dennis Thankachan and Ryan Schrack in 2019 to provide AI software that “streamlines and digitizes network service procurement, inventory management, and bill payment” in the enterprise telecom market.

The company touts customers such as Alo Yoga, Palo Alto Networks, Five Guys, Pandora Jewelry, and Teladoc, plus “1,000+ ISPs and telecom service providers spanning the globe,” according to a press release.

Solving enterprise telecom challenges

Marketing documents from Lightyear cite several challenges in enterprise telecom management such as labor-intensive workflows, lack of vendor transparency, non-digital organization, and difficulty tracking billing errors that their software hopes to solve.

Addressing these and other challenges, Lightyear has a procurement platform to automate RFP creation, quoting, and other features, a digital “Network Inventory Manager” for enterprise networks, and bill consolidation software to consolidate telecom services, such as invoicing and audits, among other things.

“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,” said Lightyear CEO Dennis Thankachan.

“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.”

Funding

Lightyear says the funding round will go towards product innovation, deepening its “core” product lines, Procurement, Network Inventory Management, and Bill Consolidation, as well as new products and features.

“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.”