Square Raises $150 Million

Square, a payment startup, is now valued at $6 billion and closed a $150 million round of financing, according to reports.

 

The round was led by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation and included Goldman Sachs and Rizvi Traverse Management, according to the New York Times. The new is interesting because, as we wrote about earlier, Square is not going to be profitable until 2015.

 

Square, which started off taking a small percentage of credit card payments via a free dongle for merchants, hasn't made a profit and has a significant amount of debt because it's looking for a new profitable angle. So far, Square has launched Feedback, a $10 a month subscription so merchants can follow up with customers' experience. It also has opened Square Capital, a cash advance program for small businesses, and Caviar, a food delivery startup for restaurants.

 

Square has a lot of competition for electronic payments including from Apple which recently unveiled its Apple Pay. EBay also spun off PayPal as a new business -- and all of them have much more cash behind them than Square.

 

The cash infusion was expected, likely because Square is tapped out. We shall see if Square become the profitable business it promised to be next year.