LIGHTSPARK

Lightspark is a global Bitcoin payments infrastructure company founded in 2022 and headquartered in Los Angeles, California. The company was founded by David Marcus, a veteran fintech executive who previously served as President of PayPal and led crypto initiatives at Meta (formerly Facebook). Lightspark's mission is to modernize cross-border payments by leveraging Bitcoin's Lightning Network to enable instant, low-cost money transfers globally. The company offers three core product lines: Grid (a unified API for sending, receiving, and settling fiat, stablecoins, and Bitcoin globally), Node (enterprise-grade Lightning node management handling keys, liquidity, and routing), and Spark (a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution for near-zero cost transactions). Through its Universal Money Address (UMA) protocol, Lightspark enables human-readable payment addresses that function like "email for money." In October 2025, Lightspark acquired Striga, a European crypto infrastructure company, to expand into card issuing, compliance solutions, and fiat-crypto ramps. This acquisition positioned Lightspark as a full-stack payments infrastructure provider with Visa card capabilities and banking licenses across multiple jurisdictions. Lightspark operates in 180+ countries and serves major clients including Coinbase, Revolut, SoFi, Bitso, Bakkt, and Xapo Bank. The company has raised $175 million in Series A funding from top-tier investors including a16z, Paradigm, Thrive, Coatue, and Ribbit. The company maintains regulatory licenses in Estonia (VASP) and holds money transmitter licenses in over 20 US states. Lightspark completed SOC 2 Type 1 compliance certification in June 2024 and is actively working on MiCA compliance for European market entry.