Square CEO Jack Dorsey

In their early days, Square, Inc. had cornered a niche aspect of the mobile payments market, focused on smartphone-compatable, square-shaped credit card readers for small businesses. Yet their efforts to make commerce easier are now met with a bevy of rivals in a market that’s recently been joined by Apple Pay.  Will a fresh round of funding help Square maintain its hold on the market it helped create?

According to Mike Isaacs at the New York Times the startup recently closed a venture financing round of $150 million. According to an unnamed source at Square, this latest financing round now values the startup at $6 billion.

The source stated that the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation leads the latest round of funding. Other investors include Goldman Sachs and Rizvi Traverse Management. The estimated valuation of $6 billion puts Square in the same company as Pinterest and Spotify, who have similar valuations.

Square hasn’t confirmed the valuation amount; however, they have confirmed the financing round.

A Square spokesperson told Isaac “We stand for independent businesses and will continue to invest aggressively to empower them with tools that help them grow”.

Their main product is a white dongle that can easily be attached to smartphones, enabling them to accept credit cards. They have also ventured into other avenues of commerce like Square Capital, which lends money to small businesses and Square Order that enables you to order food from restaurants.

It has been a tough year for Square with competitors on the increase. Amazon has launched its own card reader, called Local Register, which has lower transaction fees. Apple Pay has recently hit the mobile payments market. Finally, with the recent split between eBay and PayPal, the payments space is set to be lit up. Who will come out tops in the mobile payments market? Only time will tell.

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