Vaughan Fergusson

Vaughan Fergusson is a New Zealand technology entrepreneur best known as the founder of Vend (he formerly used the surname Rowsell), the cloud-based retail point-of-sale platform that became one of the country’s strongest SaaS success stories.

Founded in Auckland in 2010, Vend was born from a simple observation: when the first iPad arrived, Fergusson recognised it could replace the clunky, expensive cash registers that small retailers were stuck with. Drawing inspiration from how Xero had transformed accounting, he set out to build the equivalent for retail — and created one of the first iPad-based point-of-sale systems in the process.

Vend grew into a global retail management platform used across New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Its rise helped prove that New Zealand companies could build software for international customers from day one, rather than treating offshore markets as an afterthought.

In March 2021, Vend was acquired by Canadian commerce company Lightspeed in a deal worth around US$350 million — a landmark moment for New Zealand’s technology sector that validated the country’s ability to build globally relevant SaaS. The product and its Auckland engineering team were folded into Lightspeed’s wider commerce suite.

Beyond Vend, Fergusson has remained an active and generous presence in the New Zealand innovation ecosystem. Through the Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust — named after his mother — he has championed teaching technology, creativity and innovation to young New Zealanders who might not otherwise get the opportunity.

Fergusson’s story stands out not only because he built and sold a successful software company, but because he backed original thinking and showed that a New Zealand founder can help shape how retailers around the world run their businesses.

Sources: Reseller News · NZ Herald · Vaughan Fergusson