Retail tech firm Vend sells to frenemy for $480m

Vend chief executive Ana Wight will remain to lead the team in New Zealand and Australia.

Fri, 12 Mar 2021

Kiwi retail software company Vend has been sold to its long-time friend and competitor, Lightspeed, for $480 million after being courted by a long list of suitors.Vend founder Vaughan Rowsell said last year the company had received many takeover offers as covid accelerated the trend towards digital retail.“We were having phone calls literally every other week with people, but we’d obviously known the Lightspeed team for going on ten years now, so they felt like the right people for us to join with,” he told BusinessD...

Subscribe to BusinessDesk

Stay informed on business, government and financial developments across New Zealand.

Deeply researched, twice-edited and fact-checked news
Annual subscribers also receive a complimentary subscription to The Wall Street Journal
Personalised email news alerts, plus gift up to 5 stories a month to non-subscribers

You can cancel anytime with two clicks, an email or a phone call.
Find out more.

We are serious about journalism.

Already a Subscriber ? Sign in here.

Name {{ registerForm.errors.get('name') }}

Email address {{ registerForm.errors.get('email') }}

Phone Number {{ registerForm.errors.get('phone') }}

Job Title {{ registerForm.errors.get('title') }}

Password Minimum password length of 8 characters.
Require at least one upper and lowercase, numeric, and special character. {{ registerForm.errors.get('password') }}

Repeat password {{ registerForm.errors.get('password_confirmation') }}

We had trouble validating your card. It's possible your card provider is preventing us from charging the card. Please contact your card provider or customer support.

Credit Card

Cardholder's name

{{ __(plans[index].name) | capitalize }} {{ plans[index].attributes.old_price | currency }} {{ plans[index].price | currency }}

All subscriptions auto renew but are easy to cancel.

I Accept The Terms Of Service

{{ registerForm.errors.get('terms') }}

Tax: {{ taxAmount(selectedPlan) | currency }}

Total Price Including Tax: {{ priceWithTax(selectedPlan) | currency }} {{ selectedPlan.type == 'user' && spark.chargesUsersPerSeat ? '/ '+ spark.seatName : '' }} {{ selectedPlan.type == 'user' && spark.chargesUsersPerTeam ? '/ '+ __('teams.team') : '' }} / {{ __(selectedPlan.interval) | capitalize }}

Technology

Substack prances to 'unicorn' status

Substack raise sees it valued at more than US$1 billion.

Staff reporters 4:29pm

The Quiz Free

QuiznessDesk, Friday, July 18

Can you get them all correct without cheating?

The Quizmaster 9:15am

Property

Supply of new homes misaligned with what buyers want

There is a shortage of homes people love, a new survey finds.

Maria Slade 5:00am

Supply of new homes misaligned with what buyers want

Sponsored

Global real estate without the passport or paperwork

A global ETF offers access to income-generating real estate like data centres, healthcare and logistics warehouses – all in New Zealand dollars.

Blackrock, Smart Invest

Sponsored

‘Make Today the Day’: Why on-the-job training is the key to NZ’s service recovery

Covid gutted New Zealand’s service workforce. Training is the fix – and the future.

ServiceIQ

More Markets

Primary Sector

Livestock Improvement Corp posts strong profit but warns of FY26 one-offs

Staff reporters 10:45am

Retail

Warehouse reshuffles exec team

The Warehouse Group has reshuffled its executive team ahead of its leadership transition at the end of the month.On Friday, the retail group appointed Stefan Knight as chief financial officer. Knight will exit his role as financial director at Spark New Zealand and start on Aug 1...

Staff reporters 9:25am