Lightning Labs

Lightning Labs builds the core open-source infrastructure for the Bitcoin Lightning Network, including the widely-used LND (Lightning Network Daemon) implementation and the Lightning Terminal web UI for node operators. Beyond protocol-level work, the team is building non-custodial Lightning-based financial primitives — including Taproot Assets for issuing stablecoins on Bitcoin and L402, an internet-native payments protocol designed for AI agents. Customers are mostly developers and exchanges/wallets running Lightning-enabled services. Lightning Labs raised a $70M Series B in 2022 led by Valor Equity Partners, with backing from Baillie Gifford and Brevan Howard. It's a small (~30 person) deeply technical team — a serious shop for a PM interested in Bitcoin protocol-layer payments.