Montréal-based Lightspeed is set to vote on a motion that would see the company change its name from Lightspeed POS to Lightspeed Commerce, according to documents filed by the company.
According to the documents, filed Wednesday, the company will vote on the name change at its annual meeting of shareholders on August 5. In one document, Lightspeed stated the name change is intended to give it a name that more accurately represents Lightspeed’s current and future offerings.
“Lightspeed is revolutionizing commerce and is set to become much more than point-of-sale software.”
“We evaluated our company name and looked for a name that we believe more accurately represents the full scope of services provided by the company today as we continue to build ourselves as the one-stop commerce platform for merchants around the world to simplify, scale and create exceptional customer experiences,” Lightspeed said in one of its filings.
Lightspeed provides cloud-based point-of-sale and commerce software, and has focused on creating an omnichannel experience to combine in-store and online for small businesses. The company was founded in 2005, and, since then, has grown to become a publicly-listed firm with a market capitalization of more than $13 billion.
Over the last few years, Lightspeed has branched out beyond POS solutions into a number of verticals within the broader commerce space. In a statement, Lightspeed told BetaKit, if approved, the change will reflect an important transformation that is underway for the company.
“Through services we have rolled out over the past few years and building on the recently-announced agreements to acquire NuORDER and Ecwid, two globally-leading digital platforms, Lightspeed is revolutionizing commerce and is set to become much more than point-of-sale software,” a spokesperson for the company told BetaKit.
Not only can this expansion be seen in Lightspeed’s products launched in the last few years, but also by its recent consolidation strategy, which has seen the company acquire a number of firms to expand its offerings and grow its market share.
Dasilva has been open about his intention to expand Lightspeed beyond its POS roots and make the most of the industry shift to omnichannel commerce; something Dasilva argues has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dasilva has said Lightspeed’s acquisition strategy has been “front and centre” since the company listed on the New York Stock Exchange in September.
Earlier this month, Lightspeed signed agreements to acquire two California-based e-commerce firms for a combined total of $925 million. One of these firms was Ecwid, which offers e-commerce software to small businesses that Lightspeed plans to integrate with its own platform. The second was NuORDER, a wholesale retail company, which Lightspeed acquired to simplify product ordering for its own merchants.
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These deals followed several other purchases of retail SaaS Businesses. At the end of last year, the firm acquired ShopKeep, an iPad point of sale system provider, for $440 million, as well as Upserve, a restaurant management software company, for $430 million.
The firm has also been expanding further into payments. Last year, Lightspeed partnered with global payments software provider Stripe to launch its own integrated payments solution.
At the time the partnership was announced, Dasilva told BetaKit the launch of Lightspeed Payments was part of a move to make the company a “one stop shop” for merchants.
Later in the year, Lightspeed also launched a loan offering for small-and-medium-sized businesses, also partnering with Stripe to help merchants buy inventory, invest in marketing, and manage their cash flows.
In January, Lightspeed also created a supplier network for North American retailers, allowing merchants to order and manage stock on the company’s software.
Lightspeed has also launched new tools for restaurant, retail, and golf businesses. These offerings span a number of facets within retail, such as accounting, delivery, marketing, and advertising, among others.
These product expansions have contributed to some of the company’s reported growth in the last few months. In its fiscal fourth quarter results, Lightspeed reported revenue of $82.4 million, more than double its revenue during the same period last year. The company said its acquisitions as well as its organic growth played into its revenue increase.
Lightspeed told Betakit the name change would take place shortly after it is approved at the annual meeting of shareholders.