Valar, SquarePeg lead $20m round for New Zealand’s Vend

Berlin-based Nine Point Capital also participated. Vend has now raised a total of NZ$36 million, including a NZ$8 million Series A in May 2013 and NZ$3 million across two seed rounds in 2011 and 2012.

The company will use the new funds to expand globally, with a particular focus on North America, continental Europe and the UK. It operates through a channel of reseller partners as well as industry partners such as PayPal, online accounting provider Xero, inventory management business Stitchlabs, in-store consumer analytics player Swarm and customer self-checkout provider SelfPay.

Vend launched in 2010 and is now used in over 10,000 stores in more than 100 countries. Its cloud-based software allows retailers to process sales, track inventory and perform customer management. Headquartered in Auckland, it has offices in Melbourne, Toronto and San Francisco and plans to establish a presence in London this year.

"The best tech companies are those that enable you to do more with less," Thiel said in a statement. "Vend's powerful software is poised to enable millions of small- and medium-sized businesses to focus less on paperwork and more on bringing better products and services to their customers."

Point Nine provided the original seed funding in 2011 and returned with more capital the following year at the head of a global consortium. The Series A was provided by New Zealand-based Milford and several Australian investors, including the founders of MYOB and Seek.com.

Valar raised a NZ$40 million VC fund in 2012 through a partnership with the New Zealand Venture Investment Fund. Valar has since made several investments in the region, including two rounds for New Zealand-based Xero and one for Australian IT start-up ScriptRock.

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• Topics
• Technology
• Australasia
• Venture
• Early-stage
• Technology
• New Zealand
• Square Peg Capital
• Valar Ventures