Lightspeed Commerce

What Lightspeed Commerce does

Lightspeed Commerce Inc. is a Montreal-headquartered, publicly traded (TSX/NYSE: LSPD) provider of a cloud-based unified commerce platform serving approximately 144,000 customer locations across retail, restaurant, and golf verticals in over 100 countries. The platform is organized around three core products — Lightspeed Retail, Lightspeed Restaurant, and Lightspeed Golf — built on a shared modular architecture that includes embedded Lightspeed Payments, Lightspeed eCommerce, Lightspeed Inventory Management, Lightspeed Insights, Lightspeed Wholesale (NuORDER), and a growing AI layer (Lightspeed AI, OCR inventory automation, AI Showroom). Underlying components include a cloud POS engine, embedded payment processing with PCI-compliant end-to-end encryption, an Open API for custom workflows, and a multi-sided B2B marketplace connecting 4,000+ brands with 100,000+ retailers.

Name

Lightspeed Commerce

Legal name

Lightspeed Commerce Inc.

Website

https://lightspeedhq.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1,001–5,000 employees

Short description

Lightspeed Commerce provides a cloud-based unified POS, payments, e-commerce, and B2B wholesale platform for retail, restaurant, and golf businesses, serving approximately 144,000 customer locations across over 100 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Montréal

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue: Recurring software subscription revenue from POS, payments, inventory management, e-commerce, and wholesale platforms. Priced via tiered subscription plans (Basic, Core, Plus) with varying feature sets.
2. Transaction Processing: Payment processing fees tied to merchant transaction volumes. Embedded Lightspeed Payments generates revenue per transaction at rates starting at 2.6% + 10c per card-present transaction.
3. Hardware Sales: One-time sales of POS hardware including terminals, iPads, scanners, receipt printers, and card readers. Currently offering promotional discounts up to $5,150 on hardware for new customers.
4. Professional Services: Onboarding, data migration, training, and implementation services. Company offers free basic onboarding with premium paid services available.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion4 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

Lightspeed Commerce sells a cloud-based unified point-of-sale and commerce platform for retail, hospitality and golf businesses. Its core offering combines POS software, embedded payment processing, inventory management, omnichannel e-commerce, B2B wholesale (NuORDER), analytics, AI-driven insights and merchant financing (Lightspeed Capital) into a single integrated system sold primarily via tiered annual software subscriptions plus transaction-based payment fees and hardware sales.

Product overview

Lightspeed Commerce offers a unified omnichannel commerce platform consisting of three core vertical solutions: Lightspeed Retail (POS for apparel, electronics, jewelry, garden, gift, bike, and other retail verticals), Lightspeed Restaurant (POS for bars, breweries, cafes, fine dining, hotels, and quick service), and Lightspeed Golf (course management). These core products share a modular architecture with integrated add-ons including Lightspeed Payments (embedded payment processing), Lightspeed eCommerce (omnichannel online selling), Lightspeed Wholesale/NuORDER (B2B commerce for wholesale operations), Lightspeed Inventory Management (multi-location stock tracking), Lightspeed Insights (analytics and forecasting), Lightspeed AI (conversational AI intelligence layer), Lightspeed Scanner (mobile inventory scanning), Lightspeed Capital (merchant financing), and vertical-specific tools like Lightspeed Tableside, Tempo, Tasks, and Reservations for restaurants. The platform is designed for mid-market and enterprise retailers, restaurants, and golf operators across over 100 countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lightspeed Retail: Cloud-based POS and commerce platform for retail businesses
• Lightspeed Restaurant
• Lightspeed Golf
• Lightspeed Payments
• Lightspeed Capital
• Lightspeed AI
• Lightspeed Tableside
• Lightspeed Insights
• NuORDER by Lightspeed
• Lightspeed Wholesale
• Lightspeed Tempo
• Lightspeed Reservations
• AI Showroom
• Lightspeed Scanner
• Lightspeed eCom

Products and services

• Lightspeed Retail Cloud-based point-of-sale system for independent and multi-location retail businesses offering inventory management, customer relationship tools, omnichannel selling, integrated payments and analytics in a unified platform.
• Lightspeed Restaurant POS and operations platform for full-service restaurants, bars, breweries, cafes, fine-dining venues, hotels and quick-service operators, including tableside ordering, kitchen display systems, inventory management and restaurant-specific analytics.
• Lightspeed Golf Cloud-based golf course management software offering tee-sheet management, pro-shop POS, sales and marketing automation, reporting, website and app management, and integrated payments for golf operators.
• Lightspeed Payments Embedded payment processing solution integrated directly into Lightspeed POS, enabling merchants to accept card and digital payments with streamlined reconciliation, PCI compliance and end-to-end encryption.
• Lightspeed eCommerce Omnichannel ecommerce platform enabling merchants to sell online, on social media platforms such as Meta, and across online marketplaces from a unified system connected to the POS.
• Lightspeed Wholesale / NuORDER B2B wholesale commerce platform connecting retailers with brands through digital catalogs, purchase order management and inventory synchronization with the Lightspeed retail POS; reaches 4,000+ brands and 100,000+ retailers.
• Lightspeed Capital Business financing solution providing flexible working capital funding directly within the POS for eligible Lightspeed merchants, with simple application and repayment terms.
• Lightspeed AI AI-powered intelligence layer with conversational assistants enabling merchants to query sales, inventory and operational data using natural language for instant contextual insights, with plans to evolve into more autonomous agent capabilities.

Quantifiable outcome

• U.S.-based Lightspeed retail customers saw Same-Store GTV grow 35% in 2021 vs industry average of 18%.
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers20 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration18 records

AI capability8 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• KlaviyocoreTechnology or Integration · 30 June 2026Strategic partnership integrating Klaviyo's B2C CRM marketing automation platform with Lightspeed Retail. Enables automatic synchronization of customer profiles, sales history, and product data, allowing merchants to execute automated email, SMS, and omnichannel marketing campaigns including welcome series, post-purchase engagements, and re-engagement strategies. Targets retail, golf, and hospitality sectors.
• Skyview EquityminorOthers · 29 April 2026Acquisition of Upserve U.S. hospitality product line by Skyview Equity for up to $81 million. Transaction includes approximately 3,200 U.S. hospitality customer locations and 70 employees. Lightspeed retained analytics technology forming foundation of Lightspeed Insights. Strategic divestiture allowing focus on core growth engines of North American retail and European hospitality.
• FairecoreTechnology or Integration · 31 March 2026Integration providing Lightspeed Retail merchants seamless access to over 100,000 Faire B2B wholesale marketplace brands. Automates synchronization of product information including images, descriptions, variants, and cost data between systems, reducing manual data entry and operational complexity for independent retailers sourcing new products.
• BooztcoreTechnology or Integration · 15 March 2026Strategic partnership integrating NuORDER's B2B commerce platform into Boozt's operations, replacing fragmented spreadsheets and manual workflows with a centralized system connecting assortments, orders, and product data. Milestone in NuORDER's European expansion supporting cross-border operations across multiple currencies.
• NordstromflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2025Extended strategic partnership where NuORDER by Lightspeed provides Nordstrom with data-driven wholesale commerce capabilities. Supports Nordstrom's digital transformation strategy for wholesale operations, connecting assortment planning, orders, and product data in a centralized platform.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Block (Square): Block operates Square, the most direct competitor to Lightspeed's retail and restaurant POS offering, with embedded payments, software subscriptions, and a similar SMB target customer. Both compete head-to-head for independent retailers and restaurants with tiered subscription pricing plus integrated payment processing.
• Toast: Toast is a leading cloud-based POS platform purpose-built for restaurants, directly competing with Lightspeed Restaurant in the hospitality vertical. Both offer tableside ordering, kitchen display systems, payment processing, and multi-location management for SMB and enterprise food service operators.
• Shopify: Shopify's POS offering (Shopify POS) directly competes with Lightspeed Retail for omnichannel merchants seeking integrated eCommerce and in-person selling. Both target independent retail brands with subscription software, payments, and inventory management unified across online and physical channels.
• SpotOn: SpotOn offers restaurant and retail POS solutions with embedded payments, competing directly with Lightspeed in both verticals. Both target SMBs and mid-market operators with bundled software-plus-payments pricing and aggressively pursue customer acquisition through promotional offers.
• TouchBistro: TouchBistro is an iPad-based restaurant POS system focused on full-service restaurants, directly competing with Lightspeed Restaurant for hospitality SMBs. Both offer tableside ordering, menu management, inventory, and integrated payments in a similar subscription-plus-transaction-fee model.
• PAR Technology (ParTech): PAR Technology operates Brink POS and PAR POS for both restaurant and retail verticals, directly overlapping Lightspeed's hospitality and SMB retail verticals. Both target enterprise and multi-location operators with comparable pricing structures and integrated payment processing.
• Faire: Faire operates a wholesale marketplace connecting over 100,000 brands with independent retailers, directly competing with Lightspeed's NuORDER B2B wholesale platform. Despite the partnership integration announced in 2026, Faire represents both a complementary channel and a competitive threat in connecting brands to retail buyers.

Broad incumbents

• Fiserv (Clover): Fiserv's Clover POS network serves SMB restaurants and retailers with integrated hardware and software, overlapping Lightspeed's core SMB target. As a much larger incumbent with broader financial services infrastructure, Clover competes on embedded payments and omnichannel capabilities though it does not specialize in Lightspeed's niche verticals like golf.
• NCR Voyix (Aloha): NCR Voyix (formerly NCR) operates Aloha restaurant POS and NCR Counterpoint for retail, both direct competitors to Lightspeed's flagship offerings in the enterprise and mid-market segments. As an established incumbent in POS for hospitality and retail, NCR competes on scale, enterprise relationships, and breadth of product portfolio.

Emerging players

• Club Prophet Systems: Club Prophet Systems provides golf course management software including tee sheets, POS, and member management, directly overlapping with Lightspeed Golf. As a more specialized niche player in the golf vertical, it competes with Lightspeed Golf (formerly Chronogolf) for multi-course operators, private clubs, and municipal courses.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LightspeedHQ
• YouTubeyoutube.com/lightspeedhq
• Facebookfacebook.com/LightspeedHQ
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lightspeedhq
• Instagraminstagram.com/lightspeedhq

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Subsidiaries4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A13 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lightspeed Commerce