Not a piece of sh*t, LightSpeed lands $30M for polished Mac and iOS POS system

POS. It’s the universally understood acronym that can stand for “piece of sh*t” or “point of sale” — and that’s no coincidence. LightSpeed, which seeks to change retailers’ perception of point-of-sale systems, has today announced $30 million in its first institutional round of funding.

The Series A investment, raised entirely from Accel Partners, comes seven years after LightSpeed was born and validates the company’s mission to bridge the gap between online and offline shopping, and transform the in-store experience.

Founded in 2005, LightSpeed makes a Mac-, iPhone-, and iPad-friendly point-of-sale and retail management system that is now used by roughly 10,000 retailers, athletic apparel manufacturer Adidas being one of them.

Think of LightSpeed’s system as giving retailers a way to replicate Apple’s stellar in-store experience, where every sales person with a mobile device can show off products and make a sale. The system is multi-user, integrates with a retailer’s e-commerce business, supports a variety of payment options (including gift cards), works for companies with multiple locations, and tracks and manages store inventory.

LightSpeed, a bootstrapped company until today, has grown revenue 2,000 percent over the past five years, the company said in a press release.

“With our new capital resources and partners at Accel, we will further enhance our products and solutions that help virtually any store chain, anywhere in the world, to move ahead of the curve in the digital retail revolution and embrace the needs of today’s shoppers,” founder and CEO Dax Dasilva said in a statement.

Based in Montreal and Ottawa, LightSpeed has 50 employees and will use its funding, in part, to staff-up operations.

http://vimeo.com/lightspeed/overview