Founded in Australia in 2017, The Lightyear Corporation offers cloud-based procurement and invoice processing automation software to large 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.
In 2018 Lightyear selected Northern Ireland as the location for its global headquarters, locating inside Belfast’s largest tech hub community. Factors that influenced the company's decision to choose Northern Ireland included the region's credentials as a leading innovation hub for fintech and support from Invest NI.
In May 2024, Lightyear was acquired by The Access Group. The Access Group is a leading provider of business management software to mid-market organisations in the UK, Ireland, USA and Asia Pacific. The Access ERP division serves small growing and medium to large businesses, with tailored solutions in a range of industry verticals, including Construction, Supply Chain, Waste Management, Professional Services and Facilities Management. Their ERP software enables customers to streamline operations, allowing data to be shared seamlessly across different business operating systems.
This acquisition is a strategic move that will allow Lightyear to innovate faster with more resources and expertise and continue to deliver the same high service levels whilst scaling their global footprint.
Since its original investment, the company has continued to work with Invest NI’s teams in Northern Ireland and Australia to explore new industries and potential export markets for its services. Invest NI has offered trade assistance and support towards job creation, R&D and technical product support to develop its software product.
The skillsets of the Belfast team include fintech, software and dev-ops. It is an agile team that is focused on creating solutions for businesses and accountants.
In 2020 Lightyear announced that it was investing over £1million in its business and doubling the size of its Northern Ireland workforce, adding twelve new jobs.
Watch now
Hear from Chris Gregg, Lightyear’s Founder & CEO, about how the company has worked with Invest NI’s teams in Northern Ireland, Australia and North America to explore new industries and potential export markets for its services.
Key facts
- Global headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Office in Sydney, Australia.
- Leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to deliver data automation for the accounts payable and procurement sector.
- Processing more than US$7 billion of invoices each year for businesses around the world.
- Since 2018, has onboarded over 4,000 customers across 11 countries.