Visa Invests in Square

The credit card company will be partnering with the mobile payment start-up.

May 02, 2011

Visa has infused Square, a mobile payment company, with a cash investment of "single-digit millions," the Los Angeles Times reports. The partnership will help Square to reach more companies currently only accepting cash or checks and enable them to accept credit cards.

Visa said it "continuously evaluates new technologies and invests in payment innovations that can enable more businesses to accept Visa," read a written statement from John Partridge, the company??s president. "Square??s early success suggests that [by] using Square and a mobile device, new types of merchants will now be able to accept payment and help grow their business via Visa's global network with the security, speed and reliability we provide."

Jack Dorsey of Twitter founded Square two years ago to develop a way for small businesses to take credit cards via a free reader. Square technology works through the headphone jack of an Android phone, iPhone or electronic tablet. One major difference with Square is that every business pays the same for service no matter the transaction amount.

Square has made progress in getting its readers out there by inking a deal with Apple to put its credit card reader in Apple's 235 U.S. stores.

For more on the future of mobile payments read the NACS Magazine May cover story, "The High-tech Payments Battle." And for more about Square read "The Coffee iPad Program" in the same issue.

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