We are so pleased that the world-class teams from Vend and Lightspeed have announced they are joining forces, to help more retailers enrich the communities they serve.

• Lightspeed is a global leader in point-of-sale and e-commerce software based in Montreal, Canada. It was founded in 2005 by Dax Dasilva who also serves as the CEO of the company. Globally, Lightspeed helps power almost 115,000 retail, restaurant, and hospitality locations, across 100+ countries*.
• Vend enables retailers to accept payments, sell in-store and online, manage their inventory, reward customer loyalty, and report on their business in real-time. It was founded in late 2010 and is used by over 20,000+ customer locations across 140 countries.

We have spent the last eight years as investors and directors and it has been our greatest privilege and an inspiration to work alongside Vaughan, Ana, her leadership team and the 200+ Venders who have made this company so special.

We believe that the combination of Vend and Lightspeed, will enable thousands more businesses to benefit from purpose-built POS software – and we couldn’t be more excited.

How it all started

We joined Vaughan and the Vend team in 2013, when the Auckland-founded startup was only a few years old. It wasn’t just our attraction to the Green Machine and Vaughan’s moustache – impressive, though that was - we were excited about the team’s massive vision to build a world-leading platform for stores around the world – helping all businesses ‘move to the cloud’. Over the years, we were proud to support the team time-and-again, serving as chair of the board for three years, and investing a further four times, becoming Vend's largest shareholder/venture investor.

Fast-forward to today, the Vend platform built a huge, loyal and global customer base, more than 20x-ing its revenue since our first investment. Over the years, we have marvelled at the team’s commitment to reducing the pains of running a small business – managing inventory, building a customer-centric CMS, managing multi-channel sales. The past year has reminded us all of the joy that small businesses bring to local communities, and we know that this understanding has guided the Vend team from day one.

Vend's contributions

At the ecosystem level, this is a tremendous day for New Zealand tech. Vaughan, Ana and the Vend team have built an extraordinary community of operators, builders, doers. Standing on the shoulders of giants – Xero, Trademe and many others - this is further proof that globally significant companies are built in NZ. We look forward to investing in our next NZ-based company!

At the Vend level, we know that the team’s achievements begin and end with their customers. Empowering retailers is in the company’s DNA, and the people bleed green for Vend’s customers. In our many visits to head office in Auckland (we miss those times!), we were always overwhelmed by the team’s need to get better and better and do more and more. We’ll cherish the experience of working with the team.

At the community level, we’re also grateful to the Vend team for their contribution to other founders and leaders at companies within the Square Peg portfolio. Whether it was sharing their secrets to hiring and onboarding, or building an executive team, or just talking through a technical component with another CTO, their willingness to help grow a community of excellent tech founders and operators is hugely appreciated (and, mostly unknown).

Where to from here

At the heart of many communities are the stores that we pass every day, shop at regularly and visit as an important part of our daily lives. The past year has shown how important it is that these businesses are supported. Lightspeed and Vend will show that 1 + 1 equals far more than 2.

The merger is subject to customary conditions and is expected to complete in approximately six weeks. We look forward to seeing their futures unfold. For more information, please see the official Lightspeed press release.

* Based on December 31, 2020 reported figures.

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