Lightspeed Raises $61 Million To Support Its Rapid Global Growth

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Lightspeed’s cloud POS platform transforms global retail and restaurant business with more than 55,000 registers in over 100 countries, processing over $10 Billion annually. Last year Lightspeed raised a $61 Million in Series C round of funding. Below is our interview with Lightspeed’s CEO and founder, Dax Dasilva:

Q: What do you find most interesting and rewarding in terms of running Lightspeed?

A: We recently celebrated our 10-year anniversary — and we’re incredibly proud of being part of the Canadian tech scene that continues to grow. It’s really important to us to be supporting the retailers that keep main street alive – but it’s equally rewarding to be able to give back to the tech community in our own backyard. I try to stay involved in the local startup scene, serving as an unofficial mentor for many local startups when I can. We’ve hosted brainstorms and meetings at our Montreal office and are always eager to share our insights and advice with burgeoning startups. It’s been rewarding to see other companies learn from us and look to Lightspeed as a model for the Montreal tech community – we’re excited to keep that local momentum going.

Q: Last year you raised a $61 Million in Series C round of funding, what are your plans?

A: There are three main areas we’re looking to support: the financing will go towards technology infrastructure enhancements to support our rapid global growth, the development of an offline POS mode, and deeper investments in both Europe and eCommerce. We are investing heavily in modernizing and scaling our cloud-based platform to better support our rapidly growing and increasingly global user base. A big part of that is developing an offline mode that will enable merchants to run their business when there is limited or no wifi available.

We’ll also be investing more heavily in eCommerce. We conducted a survey this year, and more than 60 percent of independent retailers with brick and mortar stores said they would be increasing their online investment in the next year– omnichannel is a significant priority for us, and we’re ready to take on our competitors. eCommerce is a key investment for our customers, with a 23 percent increase in the number of customers offering online stores this past year. There is a huge opportunity and need to help SMB retailers build seamlessly integrated omnichannel environments.

After our funding round last year, we hit some pretty huge milestones – we launched a new business line, Lightspeed Restaurant, and gained a lot of momentum in Europe that led to rapid expansion. Our European business has grown 745% year-over-year in Europe, with the opening of our London and Ghent offices. With this round of funding, we want to continue this upward momentum and further fuel global expansion.

Q: What advantage does Lightspeed have over its competitors?

A: A big differentiator for Lightspeed is that we are focused on improving both the store and the storeroom, and we do that with data. Our platform gives retailers and restaurateurs the data and insights they need to run a better day-to-day business, create a better experience, and predict what they need for the future. We are also brick-and-mortar first and uniquely set up to provide solutions for retailers with large and complex inventory. That being said, as many of our brick-and-mortar customers invest more in their online stores, we are going deeper in eCommerce to serve this need.

There are certainly some other companies that play in our field, but we are serving different types of customers. Square for instance does a great job with mobile checkout, but they are serving retailers who have less complex needs in terms of inventory management and reporting. Shopify has a huge customer base online, but they are mostly smaller businesses that only offer their products through one channel. We go a lot deeper and provide insights across the entire business.

Q: More generally, how do you see the payment landscape developing, and where do you place yourself in the industry?

A: It’s a really exciting time for retail in the payments world. Retailers are selling through a number of different channels (in-store, online, mobile) and they are looking for technologies to help them keep up with consumer demand for great experiences in-store and the ability to buy across different channels.

Additionally, because of EMV regulations in the U.S., and other similar payment regulations in Europe, retailers are looking for new, more advanced POS systems so they can stay up to speed on regulations. While they are investing in a new POS, many are taking this opportunity to choose one that goes beyond the transaction to offer deep analytics, cross-channel inventory management and other offerings that improve customer experience and operational efficiency. That’s where we see Lightspeed really standing apart: we’re more than “out of the box” software, and ready to partner with retailers that want to do more. Lightspeed is in a great place because while we are accessible enough for a mom and pop store, we are seeing more traction from larger chain stores because we can handle that type of complex inventory and other needs that come with being a larger retailer.

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