Canadian point-of-sale software provider Lightspeed POS announced the acquisition of two California-based businesses this week.
The company is set to purchase e-commerce platform Ecwid Inc. for $500 million and NuORDER Inc., which automates wholesale orders, for $425 million. The acquisitions will expand Lightspeed’s reach in the retail sector and make it a potential rival to Canadian giant Shopify.
“Unlike their previous acquisitions, which have been to expand their market reach, it looks like today’s acquisitions are to expand on their technical capabilities, making their platform more attractive to prospective merchants while growing their addressable market size with new services,” said Richard Tse, a financial analyst at National Bank. “Quite frankly, it looks like they are heading directly for Shopify.”
