It’s not the sexiest of subject matters, but someone needs to talk about it: The CFO tech stack — software used by the chief financial officers of the world — is ripe for disruption. That’s according to Jonathan Sanders, CEO and co-founder of fledgling Danish startup Light, which exits stealth Wednesday with $13 million in a seed round of funding led by European VC giant Atomico.
The Copenhagen-based startup is reimagining general ledger software from the ground up, replete with AI to cleanse transactional data, while also enabling finance teams to ask plain-English questions and receive straightforward answers from their data.
Light leans on automated ledgers, breaking away from traditional ERP systems and focusing solely on the general ledger to provide a clean and focused product for modern finance teams. With experience at companies such as Credit Suisse and Pleo, Sanders recognizes the limitations of legacy applications and seeks to bring modern technology, particularly AI, into the realm of financial management.
For CFOs, the general ledger is a crucial component of the ERP, serving as a single source of truth for a company’s financial health. Light’s platform integrates with other tools such as CRM, HRM, and communication channels like Microsoft Teams and Slack, utilizing AI models to handle tasks such as line-item coding, tax code calculations, and bookkeeping.
“We use one model to help bookkeep all line items with correct taxes and accounts, and we use another model to help the C-suite to ask questions about revenue, costs and profit — directly from Slack,” Sanders said. “We have, and continue to experiment with, a mix of off-the-shelf models and fine-tuned open source models as the AI landscape is changing rapidly.”
In contrast to traditional ERP systems that offer a suite of features such as CRM, HR, and project management, Light focuses solely on features related to the general ledger, such as accounts receivable, accounts payable, VAT reporting, and more. This “unbundling” of the ERP allows for a more streamlined and efficient platform, free from the limitations and bulk of legacy systems.
But why bother unbundling in the first place?
While a fully featured ERP may make sense for large businesses where data alignment is crucial, for many smaller businesses, standalone tools for specific tasks, such as CRM and HR, are already being used. Light aims to fill the gap for a global ledger, seamlessly integrating with existing systems to provide a unified and searchable dashboard for all global transactions.
Light operates on a subscription model with volume-based pricing, aiming to appeal to a broad market of companies looking to scale globally.
“The primary day-to-day users are finance teams, including the CFO,” Sanders said. “Our focus is on making the interface with the rest of the business seamless, so anyone with the right permissions can easily approve invoices, upload expenses and query vendor information or reports.”
After leaving his previous position as head of payments at Pleo in 2020, Sanders went on to found Juni, a fintech company aimed at helping e-commerce companies manage their finances. Although Juni has since raised over $280 million, Sanders left the company in 2022, citing a desire to take the company in different directions.
In 2023, Sanders founded Light, which has been operating in stealth for the past year, but is already available globally. With a strong customer base in the Nordics, Sanders believes the company is well-positioned to help small businesses around the world break free from the limitations of existing legacy solutions and expand globally.
In addition to lead investor Atomico, Light’s seed round included funding from Cherry Ventures, Entrée Capital, Seedcamp, and individual investors, such as German soccer player Mario Götze.
