Retail investment platform Lightyear is moving into the small business market, launching UK business accounts and opening access to money market funds for freelancers and sole directors in the UK via a partnership with BlackRock.
With another interest rate hike on the horizon, Lightyear’s business accounts are designed to freelancers and sole director companies make the most of their company funds, ensuring that excess corporate cash isn’t eaten up by inflation while sitting in bank current accounts.
In addition to giving 4.5% interest on uninvested GBP, Lightyear is also providing UK investors with the opportunity to make the most of global high interest rates through money market investments. BlackRock’s GBP money market fund currently returns 5.14% per annum.
Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of Wise and a startup investor in Lightyear adds: “Businesses in the UK need to make sure their cash is not draining its value against inflation. With today’s high interest rate climate, Lightyear’s launch of both business investment accounts and MMFs is a timely step towards helping entrepreneurs put their cash to work. Their new business accounts enable freelancers to earn interest and invest their otherwise stagnant cash, and their BlackRock MMFs partnership introduces these entrepreneurs to a whole new area of investing, previously reserved for larger corporates."
For UK businesses, money market funds are hard to access, with options in the market reserved for large corporates who can buy in with a £1 million minimum investment.
Martin Sokk, co-founder and CEO at Lightyear, says: “We’re helping businesses actually benefit from the increasing interest rates - something which they just can’t do with banks. We’re first focusing on the largest, but most underserved part of the market - sole owner businesses - then we’ll open this out to multi-user and larger businesses in the next few months.”