Lightspark
Lightspark is a Bitcoin company in the Infrastructure category, founded in 2022 by David Marcus, James Everingham, Christina Smedley.
The Idea
After Libra was regulated out of existence, Marcus concluded the neutral global payment network he wanted to build already existed: Bitcoin. Lightspark launched in 2022 to make the Lightning Network usable by enterprises, abstracting node management, liquidity, and compliance behind clean APIs.
Early Traction
Raised $175 million led by a16z and Paradigm. Early integrations spanned digital asset and fintech partners including Coinbase and Bitso, and in 2024 Nubank selected Lightspark to bring Lightning and UMA to its roughly 100 million customers across Latin America.
Peak Stats
One of the best-funded Lightning ventures, with $175M raised at launch. Its UMA standard and Lightning rails reach dozens of countries, and the Nubank partnership alone puts it in front of roughly 100 million users. Spark, its Bitcoin Layer 2, launched on mainnet in 2025.
Status Today
Active and expanding beyond pure Lightning infrastructure. It acquired European e-money firm Striga in October 2025 for its EU regulatory licenses, and launched Grid, a global accounts and payments product for businesses and increasingly AI agents.
Why It Matters
Lightspark is a strong institutional endorsement of Lightning as payments infrastructure: the executive who led Facebook's failed global-currency project concluded Bitcoin already was one, and is now building enterprise-grade Lightning rails for cross-border payments.