Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva sees "tons of runway" for further growth following latest acquisition

Lightspeed POS, one of Canada’s most successful SaaS scaleups, will acquire German point-of-sale (POS) systems developer Gastrofix. The acquisition will add 8,000 new European merchants to Lightspeed’s existing network of 57,000 customer locations around the world. Including cash and shares, the deal is worth $131 million. The Gastrofix acquisition solidifies Lightspeed’s leadership position in Europe’s hospitality POS market, especially following its July 2019 purchase of Switzerland-based iKentoo.

Gastrofix is Lightspeed’s fourth acquisition since the company’s blockbuster IPO in March of 2019, and its eighth since 2013. Few startups begin buying companies so early, CEO Dax Dasilva told RE$EARCH MONEY, but the strategy has been essential to the company’s rapid growth and global expansion. Founded in 2005, Lightspeed now operates 17 offices around the world and employs close to 1000 people. And with an estimated 47 million SMBs still using legacy systems or no system at all, Dasilva sees “tons and tons of runway” for further growth.

Rather than try to compete in foreign markets from scratch, Lightspeed has adopted an umbrella approach, seeking to consolidate the field under its own banner. “The market’s very, very fragmented. There are different cloud players for retail and restaurant in every country,” says Dasilva. “The reality is that many of these companies have believed in our strategy to join forces and build something together.”

Unlike pure e-commerce software firms, Lightspeed focuses on brick-and-mortar businesses that need to go online as well. “Typically, our merchants have been served by legacy players, which in the past have been local, country-specific providers,” explains Dasilva. “Now, in the world of cloud, there's a new cohort of cloud players that can service the complex SMBs. As we extend, we're starting to see who are the best players."

Dasilva isn't choosing between organic growth and buying up like-minded competitors: "It's all of the above," he says. "In order to be the global go-to name for this type of solution, we're going to need to pick up the best players around the world." More acquisitions are in the works: "We have a robust pipeline. We're always looking at opportunities, and we have many companies that we're in talks with."

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