Trade Me founder joins Vend board of directors

Trade Me founder Sam Morgan has been appointed to Vend's Board of Directors, bringing a depth of experience to the fast growing retail software company.

Vend specializes in cloud point of sale and retail management software.

Trade Me was sold to Fairfax in 2006 for $750 million, and Morgan has sat on Fairfax Media's board since. Additionally, he is a significant investor in Xero, also sitting on its board.

Morgan was one of Vend's earliest shareholders, along with Rowan Simpson, providing the initial capital that allowed founder and CEO Vaughan Rowsell to work on Vend full time and bring the product to market. Before that, Rowsell and Morgan both worked together at Trade Me.

"This is a great result for Vend. Sam has been part of Vend and involved since the beginning," says Rowsell. "With the massive global growth opportunity ahead of us, and partnerships with companies like Apple, PayPal and Xero, now is the right time to really leverage his skills and experience with a seat on the board," he says.

Vend recently announced a global partnership with Apple, and is undertaking go-to-market activity together in the UK, US, Canada and Australia.

This comes on the back of a year of major new product releases, including Vend Ecommerce. Vend recently made the top ten of the Deloitte Fast 50 for the second year running, and was awarded fastest growing technology company in New Zealand.

Morgan says, "Since I first invested in Vend, I've been proud to support Vaughan and the team's vision to build a world-leading cloud retail platform and company from New Zealand.

"The opportunity is huge, and we're really just at the beginning,' he says. "I look forward to helping Vend continue their remarkable journey.

Morgan joins Chairman Barry Brott, of Square Peg Capital, and fellow directors Rowsell and David Wilson on the Board.