Lightspeed Founder Returns to Lead Firm as CEO Departs

Digital commerce platform Lightspeed has a new CEO: its old CEO.

Dax Dasilva, who founded the company in 2005 and served as its chief executive until February 2022, will return to serve as interim CEO, Lightspeed announced Thursday (Feb. 15).

The appointment is an immediate one, the company said in a news release, as CEO JP Chauvet is stepping down.

“I thank JP for his contributions, service and leadership at Lightspeed over the past eleven years,” Dasilva said in the announcement.

“I founded this company and am delighted to be named interim CEO to lead this next stage of profitable growth,” Dasilva said. “The achievements of our last quarter serve as a testament to our potential, and we must continue to build upon this momentum. My vision is clear: cultivate a business model that fosters growth, prioritizes profitability and unlocks operational efficiencies to deliver ongoing value to our shareholders.”

The announcement follows the release of Lightspeed’s quarterly financial results last week, showing total revenue of $239.7 million, up 27% year over year. The company also improved net loss and adjusted EBITDA ($40.2) million and $3.6 million respectively, exceeding its established outlooks.

As PYMNTS reported, the company also continues to see success from its unified payments platform, a combined point-of-sale (POS) and payments platform, which debuted last year, helped drive up the company’s gross payments volume (GPV) by 69% this year.

Lightspeed brought unified payments in Europe and the Asia Pacific (APAC) during the quarter and is working on educating clients about the platform, Chauvet said at the time.

“As expected, converting customers to payments in Europe and APAC will likely take longer than in North America,” he told analysts. “We are one of the first players to unify software with payments in Europe, particularly in continental Europe, and so there is more effort involved in educating our customer base.”

In addition to Dasilva’s appointment to the interim CEO job, the company also announced another leadership change. John Shapiro, senior vice president of retail technology has been promoted to chief product and technology officer, replacing Ryan Tabone, who will be leaving Lightspeed in April.

“On behalf of the Board, we welcome back Dax Dasilva as Lightspeed’s interim CEO,” said Patrick Pichette, lead independent director of the board. “His exceptional track record as the founder of this company speaks volumes about his visionary leadership and dedication to success over the years. Under his guidance, we have witnessed remarkable growth and innovation, propelling Lightspeed to the category leader it is today. I am confident that he will continue to steer Lightspeed towards new heights of success.”