Companies · AI / ML

Lightyear AI, Inc.

New York · AI / ML · refined from filed group “Other Technology

Diligence memoA one-page analyst read on Lightyear AI, Inc. — recommendation, valuation, rhythm, risks.
$50.8M
Total raised · real
3
Rounds
0.5×
Latest step-up
Top 5%
Sector rank · raised
Series B
Latest stage · inferred · Fri Jan 16 2026 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Lightyear AI, Inc. looks under-valued against its niche peers and is active on financing cadence.

Synthesized from the figures below est. — every claim rests on a number shown on this page. Valuation uses the ai/ml sector profile.

Analyst read est. — computed against this company's niche peers in the same era. Inputs shown; not a quoted figure.

Under-valued
  • Modeled value is 0.65× the median modeled value of Series B AI / ML companies in 2025–2027 (22 peers) — value vs value, same stage and era.
Active
  • Last raise 5 mo ago; this sector typically re-raises about every 11 months.
  • Raising on or ahead of the sector's normal rhythm.
Leadership

No named principal in this company's public records yet — see all operators below.

Explore how these operators interlock with other companies in the operator network.

Where it sits in AI / ML

Lightyear AI, Inc. is one of 2067 AI / ML companies tracked from New York. By capital raised it ranks among the largest (ahead of 96% of sector peers), and in the upper tier by modeled valuation est..

Ranking is computed against this company's own sector cohort — reported capital is fact; valuation tiers are modeled.

ai/ml

As reported in public records reported — not modeled.

US
Jurisdiction
Rule 506(b)
Reg D exemption
7
Investors (latest)
2026-01-16
First sale
Amount raised vs valuation, by round

Solid bars are reported offering amounts reported; hatched bars are the modeled post-money valuation est. — both on one shared scale so you can read raise-vs-worth at each round directly. Use the toggles to overlay data labels and the niche-peer / market average value lines.

Amount raised · realModeled valuation · estCumulative funded · real
$0$125M$250M$375M$500MSeed · 2020-07-10 Raised $3.7M (real) Modeled valuation $160M (est)$3.7M$160MSeed2020Series B · 2024-08-30 Raised $31M (real) Modeled valuation $239M (est)$31M$239MSeries B2024Series B · 2026-01-16 Raised $16M (real) Modeled valuation $71M (est)$16M$71MSeries B2026+$31M+$16MCumulative $51M

The line shows cumulative reported funding over the period; + labels show new capital added between points when there is room. Toggle on-bar figures, plus the niche-peer and market averages, to read this company against its cohort. Benchmarks are modeled medians.

Financing ladder & sequence gaps
Seed$3.7M · 2020
Series B$31.2M · 2024no Series A on file
Series B extension$16.0M · 2026

Stages are modeled from round size (public records carry no series label). No record for: Pre-Seed, Series A — the company may have raised it under a different exemption, merged it into an adjacent record, or skipped it. Sequence completeness: 50%.

Modeled valuation trajectory
$71.0M
Base estimate est.
$39.2M
Conservative case
$94.5M
Upside case
$88.9M
Modeled post-money

Round size and date are reported; the stage label is inferred from round size (latest is Series Ba $15M–$40M round). Valuation is modeled from stage benchmarks scaled by the ai/ml sector profile. Directional, not a quoted figure.

Seed · modeled $160.3M · 2020-07-102020Series B · modeled $238.6M · 2024-08-30Series B · modeled $71.0M · 2026-01-162026
Model inputs · modeled:benchmark-stage-stepup-v1
18%
Dilution assumption
Implied ownership sold in the financing.
67%
Survival probability
44% low · 81% high
1.49×/yr
Annual markup
1.80×/yr upside case
0.5 yr
Elapsed time used
0.5 yr actual, capped for stale marks
ai/ml
Sector profile
Adjusts growth and survival by industry.
Financing rhythm
33 mo
Avg between rounds
$9.2M/yr
Capital velocity
6.0 yr
On record since
2020
First round
3
Rounds on file
How it compares to the market

Benchmarked against 2067 companies in AI / ML. Each bar is a median (the middle company, not an average — outliers don't skew it). Two yardsticks: real money raised (reported on Form D) and modeled value (our estimate est.). These are whole-sector medians across all stages, except the per-stage row.

Total raised — vs sector median (real $, all stages) 11× above median
This company$50.8M
Sector median$4.7M
Latest round — vs other Series B rounds in sector (real $, this stage) 0.7× of median
This company$16.0M
Sector median$21.8M
Modeled value — vs sector median (estimate, all stages) 2.5× above median
This company$71.0M
Sector median$27.9M

Raised more than 96% of sector peers (real $). Modeled value above 87% of peers (estimate).

Niche peers — same stage & era

A tighter cohort than the sector chart above — only companies at the same stage (Series B) that last raised in the same ~3-year era, ranked by modeled value est. (not money raised). This is the exact set the analyst read compares against, so a like-for-like cohort is what makes "over/under-valued" meaningful. This company ranks #17 of 22.

This companyCohort peer
$10.0M$100.0M$1.0B$10.0M$100.0MCapital raised (log)Auditoria.AI, Inc. · Series B Raised $60.8M · modeled $250.4M (est)SGNL.AI, Inc. · Series B Raised $30.0M · modeled $198.8M (est)GrowthX AI, Inc. · Series B Raised $29.1M · modeled $190.3M (est)Gather AI, Inc. · Series B Raised $40.0M · modeled $180.7M (est)Panorama Artificial Intelligence Corp. · Series B Raised $53.3M · modeled $167.5M (est)Kintsugi Ai, Inc. · Series B Raised $26.1M · modeled $149.6M (est)Maisa AI Inc. · Series B Raised $25.1M · modeled $138.9M (est)Foundation LLM Technologies, Inc. · Series B Raised $29.0M · modeled $129.0M (est)BackOps-ai Inc. · Series B Raised $35.5M · modeled $121.1M (est)Isotopes AI, Inc. · Series B Raised $18.0M · modeled $119.4M (est)Tsavorite Scalable Intelligence Inc. · Series B Raised $17.9M · modeled $114.2M (est)Broccoli Intelligence, Inc. · Series B Raised $23.7M · modeled $105.1M (est)Lightyear AI, Inc. (this company) Raised $50.8M · modeled $71.0M (est)Lightyear AI, Inc.
CompanyStageRaised · realValue · estvs peer med.
Auditoria.AI, Inc.Series B$60.8M$250.4M2.28×
SGNL.AI, Inc.Series B$30.0M$198.8M1.81×
GrowthX AI, Inc.Series B$29.1M$190.3M1.74×
Gather AI, Inc.Series B$40.0M$180.7M1.65×
Panorama Artificial Intelligence Corp.Series B$53.3M$167.5M1.53×
Kintsugi Ai, Inc.Series B$26.1M$149.6M1.36×
Maisa AI Inc.Series B$25.1M$138.9M1.27×
Foundation LLM Technologies, Inc.Series B$29.0M$129.0M1.18×
BackOps-ai Inc.Series B$35.5M$121.1M1.10×
Isotopes AI, Inc.Series B$18.0M$119.4M1.09×
Tsavorite Scalable Intelligence Inc.Series B$17.9M$114.2M1.04×
Broccoli Intelligence, Inc.Series B$23.7M$105.1M0.96×
Lightyear AI, Inc. this companySeries B$50.8M$71.0M0.65×
Full financing history

Stage is inferred from round size est., not reported on the filing — a round's dollar size maps to a bucket: Pre-Seed <$1.0M · Seed $1.0M–$4.0M · Series A $4.0M–$15M · Series B $15M–$40M · Series C $40M–$100M · Series D+ $100M–$400M · Growth/Late >$400M.

StageAmount · realAnnouncedPost-money · estValue · estConf.
Seed$3.7M2020-07-10$18.3M$160.3M90%
Series B$31.2M2024-08-30$173.2M$238.6M90%
Series B$16.0M2026-01-16$88.9M$71.0M90%
What happened at each round

Step-up, pace versus the sector's normal cadence, and revenue/exemption moves — read straight from the reported round facts reported.

  1. Seed$3.7M2020-07-10
    • First recorded raise — entered as Seed.
    • 25 investors on this round.
  2. Series B$31.2M2024-08-30
    • Raised again after 50 mo — slower than the ~11 mo sector norm.
    • Round 8.5× larger than the prior — scaling up.
    • 13 investors on this round.
  3. Series B$16.0M2026-01-16
    • Raised 17 mo later, in step with the ~11 mo sector norm.
    • Round 1.9× smaller than the prior — bridge or down round.
    • 7 investors on this round.
Intelligence
2028 ~Q4
Modeled next raise · ~33mo cadence
$16.0M
Modeled next size est.range $16.0M$25.6M
0.5×
Last step-up
$9.2M/yr
Capital velocity

Predictive signals are modeled est. from this company's own cadence and step-up, plus sector benchmarks — directional, not advice. Peer set and a CSV export live in your analyst workspace.

Key people & operators

Officers, directors and promoters named in this company's public recordsreported — the people who run it (not its investors). "Also runs" counts come from name-matching across all records, so verify before acting.

PersonRoleAlso runsTied since
Yousuf Khan2 other2024-08
Dennis Thankachan2020-07
Ryan Schrack2020-07
Samuel Garcia2026-01
Zachary Mohring2026-01
Zac Mohring2024-08
Registry & provenance

Lightyear AI, Inc. is an official record sourced from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). U.S. data is aggregated from SEC Form D filings.

United States
Country of record
US
Jurisdiction
1818394
SEC CIK
Similar companies

Nearest neighbours across the whole database — matched on sector, stage and capital scale, and on shared operators (officers or directors named at both companies in public filings). A discovery shortlist, not a valuation cohort — verify before acting, the same way modeled figures are directional.

CompanySectorStageRaised · realValue · estWhy similar
Astromech AI Corp.AI / MLSeries B$40.5M$43.9Msame sector · same stage
SuperAnnotate AI, Inc.AI / MLSeries B$39.1M$44.0Msame sector · same stage
Emerald AI, Inc.AI / MLSeries B$69.2M$98.6Msame sector · same stage
Reserved.ai Inc.AI / MLSeries A$24.2M$76.6Mnetwork1 shared operator · same sector
BackOps-ai Inc.AI / MLSeries B$35.5M$121.1Msame sector · same stage
AI Software Holdings, LLCAI / MLSeries B$33.6M$25.9Msame sector · same stage
Foundation LLM Technologies, Inc.AI / MLSeries B$29.0M$129.0Msame sector · same stage
Jeeva AI, Inc.AI / MLSeries B$28.8M$50.4Msame sector · same stage
Semantically similar

Matched by meaning, not labels — a local language model reads each company's name, sector and description and ranks the closest in that learned space. This catches look-alikes that cross sector boundaries; the structured list above explains its matches, this one trusts the text. Directional, like every modeled signal here.

CompanySectorStageValue · estMatch
System AI, Inc.AI / MLPre-Seed$8.4M89%
x.ai, inc.AI / MLSeries B$245.9M88%
Electric AI, Inc.AI / MLSeries C$524.9M88%
X.Ai Corp.AI / MLSeries D+$290.3M88%
Series.AI Inc.AI / MLSeries A$81.2M88%
Obviously AI, Inc.AI / MLSeries A$41.1M87%
Automatic AI, Inc.AI / MLPre-Seed$461K87%
Lightning AI, Inc.AI / MLGrowth/Late$4.4B87%
Frequently asked
How much funding has Lightyear AI, Inc. raised?
Lightyear AI, Inc. has raised approximately $50.8M in disclosed capital across 3 recorded financing rounds, aggregated from public filings.
What is Lightyear AI, Inc.'s estimated valuation?
Provath's modeled valuation for Lightyear AI, Inc. is approximately $71.0M (modeled range $39.2M–$94.5M). This is an algorithmic estimate derived from round sizes and same-niche peers — not a quoted or reported figure.
What funding stage is Lightyear AI, Inc. at?
Lightyear AI, Inc.'s latest modeled financing stage is Series B. Its most recent recorded round closed around Fri Jan 16.
What does Lightyear AI, Inc. do and where is it based?
Lightyear AI, Inc. operates in the AI / ML sector, based in New York.
Explore related

See where Lightyear AI, Inc. sits in the wider market — its sector, location and stage cohorts, each with their own leaderboards and capital-flow timelines.

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