Dax Dasilva

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, In 2025, he was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal after being nominated by the Nature Conservancy of Canada. Early life and education Dasilva was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia 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. 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, in February 2024.

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

Dasilva was an executive producer of a 2025 documentary about Juma Xipaia, an Indigenous Brazilian environmental activist; titled Yanuni, the film was directed by Richard Ladkani, produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, and won best documentary at the Environmental Media Awards. Author Dasilva authored a book titled Age of Union: Igniting the changemaker that was published in 2019. The book, which is partly a memoir, was published in 2025, with a foreword by Jane Goodall, and recounts his experiences working with conservationists including Goodall, Juma Xipaia, and Kerry Bowman. Community involvement In 1993, Dasilva participated in the Clayoquot “War in the Woods” protests in Vancouver with projects in Canada, Peru, Indonesia, and Congo.

In 2025, Dasilva partnered with the conservation group Re:wild on a series of conservation efforts beginning with a $1 million reforestation and anti-poaching project in Madagascar.

Through Age of Union, Dasilva designed a traveling interactive exhibit called the Black Hole Experience, that uses light-absorbing paint, lighting, and a curved video display to simulate the visual and spatial effect of a black hole. Though not directly related to conservation, the exhibit was conceived by Dasilva to help visitors understand their connection to the natural world. He was an ambassador for Montreal Pride in 2015.