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# Square
- URL: https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/square/
- Published: 1999-01-03T00:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-01-26T04:06:19.000Z
- Author: Liam Sturgess
- Tags: Profiles, #docs, #organization

**Square** is a financial services platform operated by Block, Inc.

## History

In 2009, Jack Dorsey and Jim McKelvey began developing the Square payment service. The pair demonstrated the tech to investors at the 2009 Allen & Company conference, earning themselves an investment from [Khosla Ventures](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Khosla-Ventures).[\[1\]](#fn1)

Square headhunted Bob Lee, a lead developer for Google's Android platform, in January 2010\. He joined the team as Chief Technology Officer (CTO).[\[2\]](#fn2) The company launched the first version of the service in May 2010.[\[1:1\]](#fn1)

Square secured a debt financing agreement in April 2014 with Barclays, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, and [Silicon Valley Bank](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Silicon-Valley-Bank) (SVB).[\[3\]](#fn3)

## Investors

Investors in Square include:[\[4\]](#fn4)

- Access Technology Ventures
- [Acequia Capital](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Acequia-Capital)
- Barclays
- [Citi Ventures](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Citi-Ventures)
- [GGV Capital](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/GGV-Capital)
- GIC
- Goldman Sachs
- JPMorgan Chase
- [Khosla Ventures](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Khosla-Ventures)
- Kleiner Perkins
- Morgan Stanley
- Omega Venture Partners
- [Rizvi Traverse](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Rizvi-Traverse)
- Sapphire Ventures
- Sequoia Capital
- [Silicon Valley Bank](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Silicon-Valley-Bank) (SVB)
- Sozo Ventures
- Starbucks
- [SV Angel](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/SV-Angel)[\[5\]](#fn5)
- Tiger Global Management
- Tuesday Capital
- Virgin Group
- Visa
- VMware

## External links

- [Campfire Wiki](https://www.campfire.wiki/doku.php?id=square)
- [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Square%5F%28financial%5Fservices%29)

### Further reading

- April 27, 2023: "[Who Was Bob Lee?](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/blog/who-was-bob-lee/)" by [Liam Sturgess](https://www.whiteroseintelligence.com/Liam-Sturgess)

---

1. Robischon, N. (2010, May 11). *Square Brings Credit Card Swiping to the Mobile Masses, Starting Today.* Fast Company. <http://archive.today/2013.10.21-075818/http://www.fastcompany.com/1643271/square-brings-credit-card-swiping-mobile-masses-starting-today> [↩︎](#fnref1) [↩︎](#fnref1:1)
2. Hurley, B. (2023, April 5). *Everything we know about the murder of Cash App founder Bob Lee.* The Independent. <http://archive.today/2023.04.05-191522/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/cash-app-founder-bob-lee-stabbed-san-francisco-b2314740.html> [↩︎](#fnref2)
3. *Debt Financing - Square.* Crunchbase. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from <https://www.crunchbase.com/funding%5Fround/square-debt-financing--e458eddf> [↩︎](#fnref3)
4. *Square - Funding, Financials, Valuation & Investors.* Crunchbase. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from <https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/square/company%5Ffinancials> [↩︎](#fnref4)
5. *SV Angel.* FinTech Global. Retrieved April 5, 2023, from <https://web.archive.org/web/20230405234635/https://fintech.global/investors/sv-angel/> [↩︎](#fnref5)