Software firm Lightspeed sets IPO at $16

Montreal software firm Lightspeed POS Inc. has priced its initial public offering at $16 – above the range it had previously disclosed – and is now seeking to raise $240-million, owing to strong investor demand.

The 14-year-old company, which provides retailers and restaurants with cloud-based software to help them manage point-of-sale and back-office functions on a range of digital devices, said last month it was seeking to raise $200-million. It had been planning to price its shares between $13 and $15 apiece.

But investor demand has been so strong that the size of the deal got boosted by 20 per cent, the maximum amount permitted, according to a person familiar with the matter whom The Globe and Mail agreed not to identify because the matter is not public.

There will be approximately 87.2 million shares outstanding after the offering, the person said. That would value the company at around $1.4-billion.

Shares begin trading Friday on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LSPD.

The Lightspeed IPO comes ahead of a number of high-profile public offerings expected this year from Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Slack Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc., Uber Technologies Inc. and Palantir Technologies Inc.

The company raked in US$72-million in revenue in 2018. Its revenue for the period that ended Dec. 31 was US$20-million, up 33 per cent from a year ago. However, like many fast-growing software firms, it has generated substantial losses. Lightspeed posted a net loss of US$98-million in its fiscal year ended last March 31 and an operating loss of US$21.9-million.

The company is preparing to launch a new payments offering, which it hopes will help fuel its growth and generate additional revenues.

Lightspeed’s point-of-sales software is used in more than 47,000 retailers and restaurants.

Bank of Montreal, National Bank of Canada and J.P. Morgan Securities are leading the offering, according to regulatory filings. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Raymond James and Bank of Nova Scotia are also part of the syndicate.

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