Payments service Square, started by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, has revealed a huge $200m Series D fundraising roundwith investors including Citi Ventures, Rizvi Traverse Management, and Starbucks. According to reports, this values the company at $3.25bn.
This news emerged as the company announced that it was expanding outside of the USA for the first time by starting to operate in Canada. It is expected that much of the money raised will be used to fund the international expansion required to take on established payments companies. In Novemeber, Square will be available across the US in branches of Starbucks and this partnership with the new coffee giant is expected to be critical for expansion.
Square is a really interesting company offering a neat solution to taking card payments. You simply plug the dinky little square dongle into your smartphone or tablet and you can swipe cards and take payments there and then. This is ideal for small businesses on the move and other traders who might otherwise only take cash payments.
