What is Square? Square Review

Founder of Square

Square was co-founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and COO Keith Rabois, a veteran of PayPal and social media blue chip companies Yelp and LinkedIn. The two believed so deeply in the power of social media that they decided Square should use it as a way to fight fraud.

Square's three current offline hardware products include:

1. Mobile card reader (Square Magstripe Reader), the earliest product, is a plug-in that can be inserted into the headphone jack of a smartphone or tablet. The plug-in is given to users free of charge and can be used with a mobile app to enable card payments. The name Square comes from this.

2. Square Contactless and Chip Reader, a card reader with wireless NFC recognition and payment function, can be applied to other payment solutions such as Apple Pay and Android Pay.

3. Square Stand, an iPad base with a card slot. Its principle is similar to the POS machines that people usually see. Consumers swipe their cards and then merchants can operate on the iPad.

Square Basics

Square is not only a payment platform for stores and restaurants, they recently added an online store building platform. There are no monthly fees, just 2.9% commission per transaction plus 30c credit card processing fee. Square allows you to sell online and in-person at the same time, and synchronize sales between your physical store and online store.

How Square works

Square users (consumers or merchants) use the mobile card reader provided by Square in conjunction with a smartphone. They can match card payments through an application under any 3G or WiFi network status. It allows consumers and merchants to make and receive payments anywhere and save the corresponding consumption information, greatly reducing the technical threshold and hardware requirements for card payments.

Square User Structure

At present, Square's merchants mainly cover four major areas: retail (20%), food and beverage (20%), services (29%), and beauty and hairdressing (12%). Except for the online trend of retail, the other three parts are difficult to separate from the offline scene, which is also the competitive barrier formed by the combination of Square's software and hardware.

Square Services

Square offers a community forum, chat, phone, and email support for free customers, and integration with Instagram. Square includes a POS solution in its basic service, while WooCommerce and Ecwid both offer integration with Square to meet that need.

Square Paid Plans

Like other sites, there are paid packages. The free bundle offers 500MB of storage, and you can list unlimited products, manage your inventory, and schedule store pickups. However, you cannot accept payments via PayPal or list product reviews.

Square's History

In 2010, Square began operations with the initial products being Square Dangle and Square CardCase/Register.

In 2011, Square launched Square Wallet, marking its first tentative foray into consumer finance applications.

In early 2013, Square launched its first consumer-focused app, Cash.

In May 2014, the company launched Square Capital, a lending service app for small businesses.

In August 2014, three months after launching Order Now, Square acquired food delivery company Caviar for $90 million.

In November 2015, Square filed for an IPO.

In March 2016, Square acquired a predictive analytics startup called Framed Data.

In 2016, Square began its push into the Australian market, its first such expansion in nearly three years.

In 2017, Square continued to strengthen its burgeoning food delivery business by acquiring meal delivery site OrderAhead for an undisclosed amount.

In 2017, electronic payment platform Square acquired the engineering team of Yik Yak, an Atlanta-based campus social platform. The acquisition also symbolized the beginning of the decline of this once popular anonymous social network.

In November 2017, Square launched a checkout product called Register.

In January 2018, Square disclosed that it had acquired yet another meal delivery service, Entrees On-Trays.

In February 2018, Square launched Bitcoin trading for its users.

In the first quarter of 2019, the company’s total net revenue increased 43% year-over-year to $959 million, with Bitcoin revenue accounting for $65.5 million.

Square's Financing

In November 2009, Square received $10 million in Series A funding from Khosla Ventures, Greg Yaitanes Marissa Mayer, Dennis Crowley, Kevin Rose, and First Round Capital.

In January 2011, Square received US$27.5 million in Series B funding from Sequoia Capital and Visa.

In June 2011, Square raised $100 million as part of its Series C round led by Kleiner Perkins.

In December 2011, Square received another round of $30 million in financing, bringing the company's total financing to more than $150 million in just two years.

In October 2014, Square officially confirmed that it had completed its E round of financing led by GIC, with Goldman Sachs and Rizvi Traverse following suit, with a financing amount of US$150 million and a current company valuation of US$6 billion. The lead investor in this latest round of financing is Square's new investor, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.

References

• 1. SquareUP Mobile Payment Service Platform in the United States: Classic Website [reference date 2020-04-25T16:00:00.000Z]