Vend

Market position

Vend was one of the established cloud POS vendors serving SMB retailers internationally, and its acquisition, following Lightspeed's purchase of ShopKeep, was positioned by the acquirer as strengthening Lightspeed's global retail customer base and its leadership in the Asia-Pacific region; after closing, Lightspeed served over 135,000 customer locations worldwide (as of 31 December 2020).

Browser-based POS with HTML5 offline capability allowing sales to continue and stock to update without connectivity, an open retail API for deep customization and enterprise integration, and a broad integration ecosystem across accounting, payments and ecommerce platforms; post-acquisition, the platform combines POS with embedded payments, ecommerce, loyalty and merchant financing in a single suite.

Technology

The POS runs in the browser using HTML5 features in Google Chrome and Safari to support offline processing: a WebSQL database in the browser stores local inventory so sales can be processed offline and stock levels updated, an HTML5 offline manifest caches required files and pages, and WebSocket enables communication with local network hardware such as EFTPOS and other payment devices. Vend also works in mobile browsers and via its iOS app, Vend Register, and exposes an open retail API for custom reporting, checkout workflows and enterprise ERP/accounting integrations.

Go-to-market

Direct online sign-up with free trials and demos, a partner and app integration ecosystem spanning accounting, ERP, marketing and payments providers, payment partnerships (iZettle, Mercury/Vantiv, Square), and a direct sales and account-management motion for merchants migrating from other systems.

Small and medium-sized independent retailers and multi-outlet retail businesses, including cafés and independent stores that were among the earliest beta users.

Geography

Headquartered in Auckland, New Zealand, with areas served including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand; the company opened offices in Toronto and London in 2014 and a new East London office in 2016, and has been described as having operations in the United States, Canada, Australia, London and Berlin, with retailers in 140 countries.

History

After its August 2010 launch, Vend struggled to raise capital amid investor scepticism about a New Zealand POS startup, relying on angel backing from Sam Morgan and Rowan Simpson before securing seed capital from Berlin-based Point Nine Capital to fund international expansion. It raised NZ$8 million in 2013 from Australian and New Zealand investors, closed a US$20 million Series B in 2014 co-led by Peter Thiel and Square Peg Capital, and opened offices in Toronto and London that year. In August 2015 it raised NZ$12 million, mainly from existing investors plus new entrant Punakaiki Fund, and launched Vend Ecommerce along with payments partnerships with iZettle and Mercury (now Vantiv). In 2016 it partnered with Square for payment processing, launched the Counter inventory app (renamed Scanner by Vend in 2017), grew UK staff to 20 with a new East London office, and raised a further US$9 million led by existing investors with significant new investment from Movac. Vend was sold to Lightspeed POS Inc. in 2021, with closing announced on 16 April 2021.

Risks & controversies

Reported figures for the 2021 sale differ across sources: Wikipedia cites US$335 million (NZ$455 million) on 12 March 2021 and references coverage valuing the deal at NZ$484 million, while Lightspeed's closing release states consideration of approximately $204.7 million in cash plus 2,692,277 subordinate voting shares. The Wikipedia entry also carries a maintenance notice flagging promotional content.