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Dax Dasilva

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Canadian businessman
Dax Dasilva
BornVancouver
Alma materUniversity of British Columbia
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, author
TitleFounder and CEO of Lightspeed

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

Early life and education

Dasilva was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia to parents who had fled the regime of Idi Amin in Uganda as refugees in 1972. 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. At age thirteen, Dasilva began apprenticing for a software developer.

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

Career

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

In 2015, when the company had 500 employees, Dasilva moved its headquarters from a warehouse in Montreal’s Mile-Ex neighborhood, to Place Viger. Dasilva took Lightspeed public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in March 2019, described by the Financial Post as the “most successful initial public offering by a Canadian technology company in almost a decade”. He was one of few openly gay leaders of a major Canadian company. 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. He returned to the position of CEO at Lightspeed in February 2024.

Dasilva won an Emmy Award as an executive producer on the 2022 documentary Wildcat.

Author

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

Community involvement

In 1993, Dasilva participated in the Clayoquot “War in the Woods” protests in Vancouver to oppose old growth forest logging and clearcutting.

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 called “Never Apart.” In 2021, Dasilva donated $40 million to found the non-profit “Age of Union”, an organization that focuses on global conservation and climate change efforts, with projects in Canada, Peru, Indonesia, and Congo. Dasilva’s Age of Union also funds efforts to protect international marine biodiversity.

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.

Personal life

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

References

  1. ^ Brownstein, Bill (15 May 2019). "Brownstein: Tech wizard Dax Dasilva advocates 'unseparation in a fractured world'". Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  2. ^ 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. ^ Charest, Matthew (13 August 2016). "The LGBT connection". Les Affaires. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  4. ^ Carmichael, Kevin (28 May 2019). "Lightspeed is writing a new chapter in the Canadian tech story". Financial Post. Retrieved 8 May 2023.
  5. ^ Marotta, Stefanie (2 February 2022). "Lightspeed founder Dax Dasilva steps down as CEO". BNN Bloomberg. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  6. ^ Bharti, Bianca (3 February 2022). "Lightspeed stock drops as CEO Dax Dasilva's departure adds to turbulence". Financial Post. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  7. ^ Waldie, Paul (26 November 2021). "Pitching in: Tech entrepreneur donates $40-million to support conservation projects". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  8. ^ 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. ^ 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. ^ 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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