Lightspeed's public debut drives IPO activity in Q1: PwC

Canada’s initial public offering (IPO) market had a "stable start" in Q1 2019, potentially opening a window for new issues later this year, according to a report by PwC Canada. In all, eight new issues on exchanges raised $327 million in the first quarter, up from $157 million raised by nine new issues at the same time in 2018. Activity between January and March was led by the public debut of venture capital-backed Lightspeed POS (TSX: LSPD), a Montréal-based retail and restaurant point-of-sale and e-commerce solution. Dean Braunsteiner, PwC national IPO leader, said Lightspeed's IPO is the first of several technology companies that have "long been expected to enter public markets."

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