Square Raises $150MM, Yodlee IPO Yields $75MM
Oct. 6, 2014
Mobile payment provider Square has landed $150 million in new venture capital in a funding round valuing the company at around $6 billion. The Series E financing reportedly was led by the Government of Singapore Investment Corp., with previous Square investors Goldman Sachs and Rizvi Traverse also participating. The San Francisco-based mPOS pioneer was valued at $5 billion as recently as early 2014. Over the past year, rumors have circulated that Square was considering an IPO or a possible sale.
The new investment comes as Square faces possible new payments competitors, most notably Apple, which last month unveiled its long-awaited NFC-based payments platform, Apple Pay. Also last month, eBay Inc. announced it would spin off PayPal Inc. into a separate business, in a move some industry observers see as a way to afford PayPal more flexibility to compete aggressively in multiple payment verticals.
In other funding news, financial app developer Yodlee Inc. raised $75 million in its initial public offering last week. In the wake of the company’s Thursday debut on Nasdaq, shares rose 40 percent from their initial $12 price. But as of Monday afternoon, shares had dropped back to around $12.37. Founded in 1999, Yodlee offers financial account aggregation services to more than 750 financial institution clients, including nine of the 15 largest U.S. banks.
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