Ever heard of a little Canadian success story called Shopify (38x increase in its stock in past 5 years)? Another rapidly growing tech company is emerging out of the Great White North — Lightspeed.

• On Mar. 11, Lightspeed reached an agreement to buy Vend, a New-Zealand-based retail management software, for $350m.

Growing beyond its Canadian roots

Lightspeed helps retailers and restaurants transition into the digital age — by providing them point of sale (POS) and e-commerce software with features like order and inventory management, digital payments and other tools.

Previously only traded on the Canadian Toronto Stock Exchange, Lightspeed listed on the US NYSE in Sept. 2020 and now has 115k+ customers in 100+ countries.

For a company catering to retailers and restaurants, 2020 would have been a death sentence of a year. But instead, COVID accelerated the demand for Lightspeed’s contactless payment and e-commerce tools.

The result: Sales were up 66% (last 12 months) and its stock is up over 144% since Jan. 2020.

Lightspeed didn’t let COVID slow it down

Instead, Lightspeed went on an aggressive acquisition spree — by acquiring:

• UpServe — a restaurant management software provider, for $430m
• ShopKeep — a retail and restaurant cloud software provider, for $440m

Add Vend to its buying binge — which gives Lightspeed a strong presence in the Asia-Pacific region and an additional $34m in annual sales.

In addition to acquisitions, Lightspeed is using new products to drive growth:

• Lightspeed Payments — which takes 2.9% + $0.30 on any transaction processed through this product — was launched in 2019 and grew nearly 4x in the last quarter.
• Lightspeed Supplier Network — a marketplace that connects businesses to suppliers — was launched in 2021.

For investors… The reopening trade

Here’s how Lightspeed could benefit from a rebound in consumer activity as economies emerge out of lockdown restrictions:

• For its software/POS business — growing businesses are more likely to upgrade to premium subscription plans or purchase additional hardware
• For its digital payments business — the more transactions on its platform, the more transaction fees Lightspeed takes