Point of sale (POS) software provider Vend has secured an additional US$20 million (A$22 million) of new capital from US and Australian investors.

The round was co-led by PayPal co-founder and the first outside investor in Facebook, Peter Thiel of Valar Ventures (US) and Square Peg Capital (Australia). Vend will use the  funds to expand its presence in the North American market through new partnerships, resellers, staff, and customers across the continent.

The US has been a major focus for the global company, underscored by its recent hire of former Intuit and Mint.com executive, Anton Commissaris, and the growth of its operations in San Francisco. The company has also recently established a new North American support office in Toronto.

The new round was co-led by Valar Ventures, an internationally-focused venture capital firm backed by Peter Thiel, and Square Peg Capital, from Melbourne, Australia.

Additional funding was also raised from existing investors, including Craig Winkler (MYOB, Xero) & Matt Rockman (Seek.com.au). The capital will support the company’s expansion globally, with a focus on North America, Europe, and Australia.

Locally, Vend employs 10 staff in their Melbourne office, with plans to grow the Australian operation to more than 30 by 2015.

The new funds will also be used to expand Vend’s growing channel of reseller partners, as well as build on their list of industry partners, which currently include PayPal (secure instore payments), Xero (online accounting – also a Valar investment) Stitchlabs (multi-channel inventory management), Swarm (instore customer analytics) and SelfPay (customer self-checkout).

“2014 is going to be a very big year for Vend,” said Vaughan Rowsell, CEO of Vend.

“With the support of Peter Thiel and Square Peg Capital, the additional funding will accelerate our North American plans, allowing us to grow our major market and extend into small and independent retail shops across the continent. The last few years have seen a resurgence of independent retailers who have become more competitive against big chain stores by adopting cloud based POS software,” Rowsell said.

Vend, which first launched in late 2010 and powers more than 10,000 stores in more than 100 countries, raised NZ$8 million in May 2013, and NZ$3 million between their first two capital rounds in 2011 and 2012.