Square, the mobile payments startup that turns any smartphone into a credit card machine, has raised an astonishing $200 million Series D financing round. AllThingsD, which first broke news of the investment, has pegged the value of the company at $3.25 billion. The round includes contributions from Citi Ventures, Rizvi Traverse Management, and Starbucks Coffee Company.
Launched by Twitter Founder Jack Dorsey (who serves as the company’s CEO), Square produces a dongle that plugs into the headphones jack of iOS and Android devices to enable the processing of credit and debit cards, effectively making it possible for any small business to process card payments. It also enables merchants to swap their cash registers for iPads. Launched only three years ago, the company today process over $8 billion in payments, up from $1 billion last year. Likewise, it has grown from 150 employees to over 400 today.
Square has been pushing the envelope on its operations lately. It now offers a merchant finder for people to identify which merchants accept Square. Merchants now have more tools to use Square to mange their inventory. There are also new payment options that don’t involve an actual credit or debit card.
And while the company is designed to enable card payments for the smallest of merchants, from the guy selling tie dyed t-shirts out of his van to a grandma at a bake sale, Square has begun teaming up with larger corporations as well. In August, the company announced an extensive partnership with Starbucks, where it hinted at $25 million in funding that is part of this package. The corporate coffee shop will use Square across its 7,000 US locations.
The company plans to expand internationally as well, according to its press release. A likely start will be Starbucks, which has 18,000 stores outside the US in over 60 countries.
This latest round brings the company’s total funding to over $341 million.