Vend POS — bank compatibility

Vend is a point-of-sale system for fashion and apparel, general retail, gifts and homeware and retail, and 1 more. The name is retired — this is Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) now, and has been since Lightspeed bought it in 2021.

Certified on mx51 and on Tyro. Worth knowing the difference: Tyro is its own acquirer, so that route means banking with Tyro. The mx51 route does not.

It handles cash out.

The mx51 integration uses SPI JavaScript and was last certified in August 2022, on Browser.

Vend was started in Auckland in August 2010 by Vaughan Rowsell, now Vaughan Fergusson, and became the big New Zealand retail software story of the 2010s. It raised NZ$8 million from Australasian investors in 2013, a Series B of US$20 to 25 million in 2014 co-led by Peter Thiel and Square Peg Capital, NZ$12 million in 2015 with Punakaiki Fund, and another round in 2016 with Movac.

Lightspeed POS of Montreal acquired it in March 2021 for about US$350 million — roughly US$192.5 million cash and US$157.5 million in Lightspeed shares, reported locally as NZ$455 to 484 million. The deal roughly doubled Lightspeed's Asia-Pacific customer base. Vend had around 150 staff at the time, and its CEO Ana Wight stayed on through the transition.

The practical point if you are shortlisting Vend now: the brand is gone. Lightspeed folded it in and sells the product as Lightspeed Retail (X-Series) — the help centre, the domains and the integration docs have all moved to that name. If a reseller is quoting you Vend, you are being quoted Lightspeed, and the pricing, the payments offer and the support all come from Lightspeed. Price it as a Lightspeed deal.