Lightdash

Lightdash is an AI-first, open-source BI platform for modern data teams, operated by Telescope Technology Limited. Its first commit on GitHub dates from April 2021 and it opened a London headquarters in June 2025. It targets companies that model their data in dbt and want business users to explore governed metrics without a separate BI modelling layer.

Lightdash reads metric and dimension definitions directly from a dbt project, so metrics are defined once and reused in an explorer UI, dashboards and embedded views. The AI Analyst lets users chat with data in natural language on the same semantic layer, and AI Agents entered private beta in June 2025. Lightdash Cloud runs on Google Cloud in Europe and North America, and the open-source edition can be self-hosted. Named users include Beauty Pie, Hypebeast, Morning Brew and Workday.

• Native dbt integration: Metrics and dimensions are read from the dbt project and stay in version control.
• Self-service explorer: Business users slice governed metrics and build charts without SQL.
• AI Analyst and agents: Natural-language questions answered on the same semantic layer as dashboards.
• Dashboards as code: Dashboards and charts can be managed as code alongside the data model.
• Embedding and React SDK: Analytics can be embedded in customer products, priced per load.
• Data apps and catalog: Data Apps add-on and a data catalog help users find relevant metrics and KPIs.

A Vietnamese fintech or e-commerce startup that models data in dbt on BigQuery can give operations and finance staff self-service dashboards. A media company can let editors ask the AI Analyst about traffic and revenue metrics. A SaaS vendor can embed customer-facing reports via the React SDK.

Teams that already use dbt avoid duplicating metric logic in a second BI tool, keeping numbers consistent across dashboards and AI answers. Business users can explore data themselves; the company reports that over 80% of daily active users are outside the data team. A 21-day trial starts without payment details, and the open-source edition can be self-hosted. Enterprise includes a SOC 2-compliant platform with HIPAA BAA support.

dbt has become a common modelling layer in cloud data stacks, including at technology companies in Southeast Asia, and teams want BI that reuses those definitions. Conversational analytics only works reliably on a governed semantic layer, which pushes demand for metrics-first BI.

Lightdash is operated by Telescope Technology Limited and opened a London HQ in June 2025. It raised $8.4M in October 2022 and an $11M Series A in October 2024 led by Accel, with Shopify Ventures, Operator Partners, Y Combinator and Moonfire. Cloud is hosted on Google Cloud in Europe and North America.