Lightspeed POS, a Montreal-based provider of cloud-based commerce solutions, has been steadily expanding its reach among small and medium-sized businesses. The company built its reputation by offering software that helps retailers streamline sales, manage customers, track inventory, and coordinate employees across multiple locations. In recent years, it also moved into the hospitality sector, where restaurants and cafés sought modern digital tools to keep pace with changing consumer behavior.
What sets Lightspeed apart is not just its breadth of features but also the speed and flexibility of its cloud platform. At a time when many independent businesses were under intense pressure from shifting consumer patterns, Lightspeed positioned itself as a partner helping merchants build omni-channel strategies that connect brick-and-mortar operations with digital storefronts.
That value proposition showed up clearly in the company’s latest results. In early February 2021, Lightspeed reported its financial performance for the third quarter, delivering a 79 percent year-over-year increase in total revenue. The growth came despite ongoing headwinds from the COVID-19 pandemic, which continued to disrupt retail and hospitality worldwide. For investors and analysts watching the company’s progress, three themes stood out.
1. Acquisitions of ShopKeep and Upserve
Lightspeed used 2020 as a year to aggressively expand its footprint in the United States, a critical growth market. The company closed its purchase of ShopKeep, a New York-based cloud point-of-sale provider that catered primarily to independent retailers and restaurants. This move strengthened Lightspeed’s penetration into the U.S. market and gave it access to a new base of merchants already looking to modernize operations.
Shortly afterward, Lightspeed acquired Upserve, a Rhode Island company known for its restaurant management software. The $430 million deal added roughly 7,000 customer locations to Lightspeed’s network and gave it a deeper presence in the hospitality sector at a time when restaurants were urgently adopting digital solutions.
The impact of these two deals was immediate. Including contributions from ShopKeep and Upserve, Lightspeed reported total revenue of $57.6 million in the quarter, representing that 79 percent year-over-year jump. According to the company, customer locations grew to about 84,000 in the quarter, or nearly 115,000 when the acquisitions were factored in.
A growing share of customers also began adopting more than one Lightspeed module, a sign that merchants were increasingly treating the platform as an all-in-one operating system rather than just a payments or sales solution. That trend set the stage for deeper long-term engagement and revenue opportunities.
2. Increase in Software and Payments Revenue
The real momentum, however, came from Lightspeed’s core business in software and payments. Revenue from this segment rose 85 percent to $52.5 million. Even when stripping out the impact of acquisitions, software and payments revenue climbed 47 percent compared with the same quarter last year, an acceleration from the 42 percent growth reported in the prior quarter.
Payments adoption was a critical driver. More businesses chose to process transactions through Lightspeed Payments, and that trend showed up in gross transaction volume. Approximately 15 percent of U.S. retail GTV and 12 percent of Canadian retail GTV were processed via Lightspeed Payments in the quarter. This not only increased revenue but also tightened the company’s relationship with merchants, since payment processing creates an additional layer of integration.
Certain verticals provided outsized growth. Lightspeed’s golf management software, which helps courses handle bookings, tee times, and member services, saw revenue from software and payments nearly double year-over-year. Loyalty programs also played an important role, as businesses invested in tools to keep customers engaged during an uncertain retail environment.
3. Lightspeed Order Ahead
A defining theme of the pandemic was the dramatic shift in consumer habits toward delivery, takeout, and contactless service. Recognizing this trend, Lightspeed introduced new offerings such as Order Ahead and Delivery.
Order Ahead was designed to help businesses create efficient online ordering systems without incurring hidden commissions or heavy fees from third-party delivery platforms. It also allowed merchants to use contactless payments directly within the tool, eliminating the need for extra hardware or outside integrations.
For restaurants and cafés struggling with restrictions on in-person dining, tools like Order Ahead represented a lifeline. The service gave small and medium-sized operators the ability to adapt quickly and retain more control over their margins, a competitive advantage during a time of industry-wide disruption.
For investors in early 2021, these results underscored why Lightspeed was gaining traction as a challenger in the global point-of-sale and payments landscape. The company showed it could combine aggressive expansion with organic growth, giving it a larger base to build on in the quarters ahead.
