Square is known for bringing in-person payment processing to small merchants and services, but its credit card reader that works with mobile devices is now widely imitated by competitors, including PayPal, Intuit, and most recently, Amazon. So how much is the company worth?
Square is in talks to raise $200 million in a financing round that would value the company at $6 billion, according to Bloomberg (via ZDnet).
While Square had a head start with its point of sale system for small, local businesses, it didn’t have what PayPal had – a way for users to easily send and receive cash. Last year, Square tried to remedy this with the launch of a mobile app called Cash that let users send and request money via email, and last week, it released an updated version of the app.
Square’s October 2013 press release explained how the Cash app works: “Customers simply send an e-mail to the person they’re paying, and after the recipient enters their debit card number, money is directly transferred to their bank account.”
Last week, it released an updated version of the free Cash app – here’s how the current press release explains the new release:
The update adds the ability to simply send or request money from everyone in your address book using just their phone number (or e-mail address), even if the recipient doesn’t have the app. Cash also features a refreshed design, the ability to keep track of payments and requests via push notification, and a new Profile feature for linking all of your email addresses and phone numbers to your account.
Square said that people have used Cash to send and receive “hundreds of millions of dollars” since the October launch. “People use the free Cash app to pay for group vacations, dinner bills and even to send funds for back to school supplies, meal plans and textbooks.”
Notice it does not mention ecommerce transactions in the description.
The Cash app is free to use and available in all 50 states via the Google or Apple app stores. More information is available at Square.com/cash, where it’s giving away a dollar to get people to try it.
