Technology

Vend

Vend was the cloud point-of-sale system Vaughan Fergusson built from Auckland, used by retailers in 140 countries before its sale to Lightspeed for NZ$455 million.

Vend
Founded:
2010
Location:
Auckland, New Zealand
Sold for:
~NZ$455 million (2021)
What it did:
Cloud point-of-sale for retail
Retailers in:
140+ countries
Last updated 3 June 2026

Vend was a cloud-based point-of-sale and retail management platform founded by Vaughan Fergusson (then Rowsell) in Auckland in 2010. It let retailers manage sales, inventory and customers from any device, replacing the clunky legacy systems most small shops relied on.

Vend grew to serve retailers in more than 140 countries before being acquired by Canadian commerce platform Lightspeed in 2021 for approximately NZ$455 million. The Vend brand was eventually folded into Lightspeed's product suite.

Why Noteworthy

Vend was one of the largest SaaS exits in New Zealand history. Fergusson built it as a solo founder, scaled it globally from Auckland, and proved that NZ-built enterprise software could command a nine-figure acquisition price. The exit put real capital and credibility back into the NZ tech ecosystem.

About this profile

This profile was researched and written by Noteworthy using publicly available sources. If something here is out of date or incorrect, let us know and we’ll review it.

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