Today, Lightspeed announced the launch of its 2019 conference for independent retailers and restaurants, Lightspeed Connect, marking the first time the event is being held in North America.
This is the fifth year of Connect, but the first that it will be hosted outside of Europe.
Connect is taking place in Lightspeed’s home city of Montreal on June 11 and look to bring together independent retailers and restaurants to participate in interactive sessions with industry experts, new technology demos, and networking opportunities. Programming for the one-day event will be in French.
This is the fifth year of Connect, but the first that it will be hosted outside of Europe, as Lightspeed looks to expand the event globally. The conference was born out of Lightspeed’s Amsterdam office and has been traditionally hosted in Utrecht, Netherlands, just south of Amsterdam.
Dax Dasilva, Lightspeed’s founder and CEO told BetaKit that Connect brings together its customers that have done large ecommerce and omnichannel projects, and is the biggest omnichannel show in Europe.
While Lightspeed is headquartered in Canada, the majority of its customers are outside of the country. The POS software provider operates in 100 countries, with most of Lightspeed’s customer base is in the US. It also has three of its eight offices in Europe, with the region bringing in 35 percent of the company’s revenues, according to Dasilva.
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Montreal’s Connect conference will feature a talk from Lightspeed president JP Chauvet who will explore the trends shaping the future in retail, restaurants, and for independent business. The event also offers a panel discussion Montreal brands including Off The Hook and Grumman 78, as well as a showcase of Lightspeed’s latest technology. The conference closes with a tour of Lightspeed’s headquarters located in the Gare Viger complex, where Connect is taking place.
Earlier this year, Lightspeed became one of few Canadian tech companies to successfully go public, listing on the TSX. Leading up to its IPO, Lightspeed raised a $207 million Series D round, closing in October 2017. In January, the company announced the launch of Lightspeed Payments, to be fully integrated with its platform. After it officially filed to go public in February, shares jumped by 18 percent on its first day of trading, valuing the company at around $1.7 billion.
Since then, the Montreal company globally launched its loyalty platform, and earlier this week BetaKit reported that it had received new credit facilities from CIBC, including a $30 million stand-by acquisition term loan, hinting that the company is in the market for an acquisition.
Image courtesy Lightspeed via Facebook