Lightspeed raises 141 million euros

Lightspeed, which provides services to (online) retailers and restaurants, has closed a 166 million dollar (€141 million) investment. The series D round was led by institutional investor CDPQ, which invested about 115 million euros. Part of the money will go to its European office, where the R&D division will grow significantly.

With the additional investment, Lightspeed wants to further innovate its omnichannel retail and mobile restaurant solutions, while also supporting the company’s international expansion. A total amount of almost 250 million euros has now been invested in the Canadian-based tech company, which has its European headquarters in Amsterdam, after it acquired Dutch ecommerce software provider SEOshop.

According to SEOshop founder Ruud Stelder, who is now director of global ecommerce revenue at Lightspeed, the investment will, of course, also reach the Dutch office. “Our research and development division will grow significantly because of this. This also applies to my colleagues of sales, marketing and support”, he told Dutch newspaper Het Parool.

‘It’s important to grow’

As of today, Lightspeed is looking for 25 new colleagues in Amsterdam, where now about 130 people are working. “We were always a company that only developed and sold online stores”, Stelders says about the SEOshop time. “But since the acquisition by Lightspeed, we also provide services to existing stores and to restaurants who want to be active online as well.”

He says that in the Netherlands, the company needs to strengthen its position in that market. He does some simple math: “Based on Tripadvisor’s info, there are at least 1600 restaurants in Amsterdam. But only 300 of them are customers of Lightspeed. Which is why it’s important to grow.”

Lightspeed is now active in over 100 countries and processes almost 13 billion euros in transactions annually. The company is said to have nearly 50,000 customers on its platform.