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Dax Dasilva
Born
Vancouver
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, author
TitleFounder and CEO of Lightspeed

Dax Dasilva is a Canadian tech entrepreneur, author and philanthropist.[1][2] Dasilva founded the e-commerce company Lightspeed in 2005,[3] which went public in 2019 at a valuation of $1.7 billion.[4] He was CEO of Lightspeed for 16 years, until stepping down in February 2022.[5][6] Dasilva was reappointed CEO in 2024. Dasilva is the author of the 2019 book Age of Union about leadership, culture, spirituality, and nature.[7] He is also the founder of two nonprofit organizations; the arts and culture organization Never Apart,[2] and Age of Union Alliance, which funds conservation projects around the world.[7][8][9]

Early life and education

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Dasilva was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia[9] to parents who had fled the regime of Idi Amin in Uganda as refugees in 1972.[4] Dasilva became interested in computer programming at age twelve, and learned to build program interfaces on an Apple Macintosh given to him by his father.[10] At age thirteen, Dasilva began apprenticing for a software developer.[11]

He attended the University of British Columbia,[12] where he studied computer science before changing to art history and religion.[9]

Career

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In 2005, Dasilva founded Lightspeed,[3] a Montreal-based e-commerce company.[13] Dasilva conceived of Lightspeed to assist small independent businesses competing against larger companies.[10][14]

In 2015, when the company had 500 employees, Dasilva moved its headquarters from a warehouse in Montreal’s Mile-Ex neighborhood,[2] to Place Viger.[10] Dasilva took Lightspeed public on the Toronto Stock Exchange[4] in March 2019,[1] described by the Financial Post as the “most successful initial public offering by a Canadian technology company in almost a decade”.[4] He was one of few openly gay leaders of a major Canadian company.[6] In February 2022, Dasilva moved to the role of executive chairman of the board from CEO in order to concentrate on environmental and equality projects for the company.[5] He returned to the position of CEO at Lightspeed[15] in February 2024.[16]

Dasilva won an Emmy Award[17] as an executive producer on the 2022 documentary Wildcat.[18]

Author

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Dasilva authored a book titled Age of Union: Igniting the changemaker that was published in 2019.[1][19] The book, which is partly a memoir,[4] deals with change, leadership, culture, spirituality, and nature.[7]

Community involvement

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In 1993, Dasilva participated in the Clayoquot “War in the Woods” protests in Vancouver[8] to oppose old growth forest[7][8] logging[9] and clearcutting.[4]

Following the movement of Lightspeed’s company headquarters in 2015, Dasilva converted the Mile-Ex warehouse that had previously been its headquarters into a nonprofit cultural and arts space[7] called “Never Apart.”[2] In 2021, Dasilva donated $40 million[8] to found the non-profit “Age of Union”,[7] an organization that focuses on global conservation and climate change efforts,[20] with projects in Canada,[7][21] Peru, Indonesia, and Congo.[7] Dasilva’s Age of Union also funds efforts to protect international marine biodiversity.[9]

In 2023, Dasilva partnered with Jane Goodall and indigenous Amazonian leaders to start a chapter of Goodall’s youth conservationist program Roots & Shoots in Brazil.[22]

Personal life

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Dasilva came out as gay at age fourteen,[2] and has credited the assistance he received at the time from LGBTQ support centers in Vancouver for helping to frame his philanthropic aims.[23] He was an ambassador for Montreal Pride in 2015.[3]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Brownstein, Bill (15 May 2019). "Brownstein: Tech wizard Dax Dasilva advocates 'unseparation in a fractured world'". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b c d e Zax, David (7 December 2015). "How Montreal's Creative Scene Got A Lift From A Fast-Growing Canadian Startup". Fast Company. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Charest, Matthew (13 August 2016). "The LGBT connection". Les Affaires. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Carmichael, Kevin (28 May 2019). "Lightspeed is writing a new chapter in the Canadian tech story". Financial Post. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b Marotta, Stefanie (2 February 2022). "Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva steps down as CEO". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b Bharti, Bianca (3 February 2022). "Lightspeed stock drops as CEO Dax Dasilva's departure adds to turbulence". Financial Post. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Waldie, Paul (26 November 2021). "Pitching in: Tech entrepreneur donates $40-million to support conservation projects". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  8. ^ a b c d McIntyre, Gordon (22 March 2022). "Vancouver native and tech star donates $14.5 million to save B.C. parkland from development". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e Hendrikx, Eric (21 April 2022). "How 'Every Daily Act Can Be an Act of Conservation,' Per Dax Dasilva". Mens Journal. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  10. ^ a b c Van Praet, Nicolas (28 November 2019). "Innovator of the year: Dax Dasilva's Lightspeed delivers data-driven solutions while humanizing the technology". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  11. ^ Marotta, Stefanie (2 February 2022). "COMPANY NEWS Feb 2, 2022 Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva steps down as CEO". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  12. ^ Silcoff, Sean (26 April 2019). "With a successful IPO behind him, Lightspeed CEO Dax Dasilva calls for 'changemakers' in new book". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  13. ^ Nisen, Max (7 November 2013). "LightSpeed Is Helping Stores Kill Off 'Showrooming' For Good". Business Insider. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  14. ^ Castaldo, Joe (13 October 2016). "Change Agents 2016: Dax Dasilva, Lightspeed". Canadian Business Journal. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  15. ^ Silcoff, Sean (15 February 2024). "Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva returns as CEO in management shakeup move to win back investors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  16. ^ Marotta, Stefanie (2 February 2022). "Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva steps down as CEO". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  17. ^ Silcoff, Sean (15 February 2024). "Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva returns as CEO in management shakeup move to win back investors". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  18. ^ Piazza, Bianca. "Why Jane Goodall and Dax Dasilva are Working With Indigenous Youth in the Amazon Rainforest". GreenMatters. No. 26 December 2023. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  19. ^ DaSilva, Dax (2019). Age of Union: Igniting the changemaker. Montreal, QB: Anteism Books. ISBN 9781926968490. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  20. ^ Butler, Rhett A. (24 April 2023). "We need to show that planetary wins are possible, says Dax Dasilva". Mongabay. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  21. ^ Britten, Liam (23 March 2022). "Tech entrepreneur donates $14.5M to protect threatened B.C. ecosystems". CBC News. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  22. ^ Kimbrough, Liz (24 November 2023). "Jane Goodall and Dax Dasilva partner with Amazon Indigenous youth for new Roots & Shoots program". Mongabay. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
  23. ^ "Lightspeed Founder & CEO Dax Dasilva Publishes Groundbreaking 1st Book". Retail Insider. No. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2023.
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