Light Frame Raises $5.1 Million to Modernise Wealth Management Core Banking Infrastructure With AI

Light Frame has raised $5.1 million in seed funding to modernise wealth management core banking infrastructure with AI-powered, real-time software. The Switzerland-linked fintech startup secured the oversubscribed round led by Fortino Ventures, with participation from Sidekick Partners, Tenity, Chameleon and Altair Capital, alongside existing investors Rogue Venture Partners, New Stack Ventures and Studio Alpha.

Founded in 2024 by Schuyler Weiss, Mathieu Clément, Philippe Kernevez and Gregory Bataille, Light Frame is developing a modular technology platform for private banks and wealth management institutions. Its software is designed to replace outdated banking processes with cloud-native, API-driven infrastructure and AI-assisted operations.

The latest investment brings Light Frame's total disclosed funding to $6.8 million, including a $1.7 million pre-seed round raised in May 2024.

The company plans to use the capital to strengthen its security and resilience capabilities, expand its product offering and hire across sales and go-to-market functions. Its initial commercial focus is Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Why Light Frame Is Targeting Legacy Core Banking Systems

Core banking systems manage essential financial operations, including customer accounts, balances, transactions and records. In wealth management, the technology must also support complex portfolios, corporate actions, investment data and operational workflows.

Many established platforms were designed around batch processing, where information is updated at scheduled intervals rather than continuously. This can leave financial institutions working with data that is hours old or, in some cases, a full business day behind.

Light Frame CEO Schuyler Weiss experienced these limitations while establishing Swiss digital bank Alpian.

Weiss said the legacy core banking system used at Alpian was expensive, slow to modify and delivered only about half of the functionality the bank had requested.

He believes wealth management technology has not evolved at the same pace as other financial technology infrastructure. While cloud banking platforms have emerged, he argues that private banks still lack modern infrastructure designed specifically around the complexity of wealth management.

Light Frame is positioning its platform as an alternative, combining real-time processing, modular software and AI-assisted workflows.

How Light Frame's AI-Powered Banking Platform Works

Light Frame describes its software as cloud-native, API-driven and modular. Banks can adopt individual components or use the wider platform, depending on their technology requirements.

The platform is designed to operate as a wealth management layer that integrates with a bank's existing core banking infrastructure and other systems.

1. Real-time data instead of end-of-day processing

Traditional batch-based systems may process certain information at the end of the business day. This can create delays when financial institutions need current information for portfolio monitoring and operational decisions.

Light Frame says its platform operates in real time, allowing AI tools and banking workflows to work with more current information.

This is particularly relevant for wealth managers because decisions based on outdated holdings, balances or transaction information can create operational complications.

2. AI-assisted corporate actions processing

Corporate actions include events such as mergers, acquisitions, share exchanges and dividend payments that can affect client portfolios.

Banks may receive these instructions through structured or plain-text financial messages, including SWIFT communications. Historically, interpreting the information and recording the resulting transactions could involve substantial manual work.

Light Frame's system can read a plain-text corporate action message and suggest the appropriate booking.

However, the AI does not independently approve or execute the final decision. A human employee reviews and validates the proposed action before it is accepted.

3. Human approval remains part of the process

Light Frame's approach is based on AI-assisted operations rather than fully autonomous banking decisions.

Weiss argues that AI outputs are probabilistic and therefore require human validation where accuracy and financial accountability are critical.

This is especially important in regulated financial services, where an incorrect booking or processing decision can affect customer assets and institutional operations.

The company says it maintains strict requirements around security and accuracy.

Who Founded Light Frame?

Light Frame was founded by four people with experience in banking, technology and wealth management.

• Schuyler Weiss: CEO and former CEO of Swiss digital bank Alpian. He led the bank through its early development and previously worked in financial services and technology.

• Mathieu Clément: Co-founder and former COO and CIO of Alpian, bringing experience in banking operations and technology.

• Philippe Kernevez: Co-founder, part of the founding team building the wealth management infrastructure platform.

• Gregory Bataille: Co-founder, also part of the team developing Light Frame's technology and business.

The founding team's experience at Alpian gives Light Frame direct exposure to the operational problems it is trying to solve. Rather than approaching wealth management infrastructure solely as a software development opportunity, its founders have experienced the limitations of running a regulated digital bank.

Weiss stepped down as Alpian's CEO in September 2023. In May 2024, Alpian announced a CHF76 million Series C financing, with Fideuram becoming its majority shareholder.

Fortino Ventures Leads Light Frame's $5.1 Million Seed Round

The $5.1 million seed round was led by Fortino Ventures. Other participating investors include Sidekick Partners, Tenity, Chameleon and Altair Capital.

Existing investors Rogue Venture Partners, New Stack Ventures and Studio Alpha also participated.

Weiss said the round was initially targeting $5 million and became oversubscribed, ultimately closing at $5.1 million after the company reduced the amount it was seeking.

The financing follows Light Frame's $1.7 million pre-seed round in May 2024, bringing total disclosed funding to $6.8 million.

Fortino Ventures investment manager Hugh Phelan highlighted the founding team's experience operating a regulated Swiss bank and its understanding of the challenges associated with replacing sensitive financial infrastructure.

Mambu Partnership and the Wealth Management Technology Market

Light Frame is not attempting to build every component of a banking system independently.

The company announced a partnership with Mambu in June 2025. Mambu provides cloud banking infrastructure and serves financial institutions across multiple countries.

The partnership covers core banking services, allowing Light Frame to focus on its wealth management layer while integrating with an established banking technology provider.

This approach is significant because replacing a bank's entire core infrastructure can be expensive, risky and operationally disruptive. A modular platform that works alongside existing systems may provide a more practical adoption route.

The market already includes established technology providers such as Temenos, Mambu and Thought Machine. Temenos also expanded its wealth management capabilities through its acquisition of Swiss-based additiv in July 2026.

Light Frame's challenge is to demonstrate that its specialised wealth management offering can deliver meaningful advantages over these established platforms.

Five Insights That Explain Light Frame's Opportunity

1. Replacing a bank's core system is harder than selling ordinary SaaS

Banking infrastructure is deeply connected to customer accounts, financial records, regulatory reporting and transaction processing. Even a technically superior platform faces a lengthy adoption process because institutions cannot afford disruptions to live operations.

This means Light Frame's sales cycle could be considerably longer than that of a typical business software startup.

2. Its modular approach could reduce the barrier to adoption

Banks may be reluctant to replace their entire core banking system at once. Light Frame's ability to offer individual modules could allow institutions to modernise selected workflows before committing to a broader implementation.

That flexibility could help the company secure initial customers, although supporting multiple integration configurations may increase product complexity.

3. Human approval is a commercial advantage, not just a safety feature

In wealth management, complete automation is not necessarily the most attractive proposition. Banks need to maintain accountability for decisions affecting client portfolios.

By using AI to prepare recommendations while retaining human approval, Light Frame is targeting a workflow that could improve efficiency without asking institutions to surrender control of critical decisions.

4. Real-time data becomes more valuable when combined with AI

Real-time processing alone is not a complete competitive advantage. Its value increases when AI can use current information to interpret events, recommend actions and reduce manual work.

Light Frame's corporate actions example illustrates this combination: current financial messages are processed by AI, which proposes a booking for human review.

5. Its partnership strategy may be essential to scaling

The Mambu partnership suggests that Light Frame is pursuing an ecosystem approach rather than rebuilding every banking component itself.

Integrating with established providers could reduce development requirements and help the startup focus on wealth-specific capabilities. However, its long-term differentiation will depend on how much of the customer experience and operational workflow it controls.

What Comes Next for Light Frame?

Light Frame plans to expand its team, strengthen security and resilience, and develop additional capabilities for private banks.

The company currently has just over 10 people in its core team and approximately 20 across its wider team. It is also working with clients, although the supplied report does not disclose their names or provide detailed customer numbers.

Its next challenge is proving that banks are willing to adopt its infrastructure for live financial operations.

The $5.1 million investment gives Light Frame additional resources to develop its platform and expand commercially. But in banking technology, product innovation alone is not enough. Institutions must trust a provider with sensitive information, operational continuity and customer assets.

The long-term opportunity for Light Frame lies in making AI-powered wealth management infrastructure reliable enough for regulated financial institutions to use at the centre of their operations.