Square was founded in 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri. When Jack Dorsey’s friend Jim McKelvey was unable to complete a transaction and sell his glass fittings because he was unable to accept credit cards, Dorsey decided to create a platform that would enable small businesses to accept a variety of payment methods.
The company’s first product was the Square Reader. This device allows anyone to accept credit card payments by connecting to a mobile device’s audio jack. The original version consisted of a simple read head directly wired to a 3.5 mm audio jack, through which unencrypted, analog card information was fed to smartphones for amplification and digitization.
In July 2014, the firm announced a card reader that would accept credit cards that had chips, and contactless cards to supplement the standard Reader’s support of traditional cards.
In June 2015, Apple announced Square would release a new Reader capable of also accepting Apple Pay and other contactless payments.
In August 2018, Square released a version of its magstripe reader with a Lightning connector, allowing it to be used on all iPhones without a headphone jack.
After receiving approval in 2020 from the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the company announced plans to launch small business-focused Square Financial Services in 2021, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In August 2021, Square announced its acquisition of Afterpay, a company offering a “buy now, pay later” service. Square will pay out $29 billion in stock and the process is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2022.
Square, Inc., the corporate owning entity, retitled itself as Block, Inc. on December 10, 2021. The main payments product for small businesses is still titled “Square”.
The company maintains a corporate office in San Francisco, California.
Square was founded in 2009 in St. Louis, Missouri. When Jack Dorsey’s friend Jim McKelvey was unable to complete a transaction and sell his glass fittings because he was unable to accept credit cards, Dorsey decided to create a platform that would enable small businesses to accept a variety of payment methods.
The company’s first product was the Square Reader. This device allows anyone to accept credit card payments by connecting to a mobile device’s audio jack. The original version consisted of a simple read head directly wired to a 3.5 mm audio jack, through which unencrypted, analog card information was fed to smartphones for amplification and digitization.
In July 2014, the firm announced a card reader that would accept credit cards that had chips, and contactless cards to supplement the standard Reader’s support of traditional cards.
History
In June 2015, Apple announced Square would release a new Reader capable of also accepting Apple Pay and other contactless payments.
In August 2018, Square released a version of its magstripe reader with a Lightning connector, allowing it to be used on all iPhones without a headphone jack.
After receiving approval in 2020 from the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions, the company announced plans to launch small business-focused Square Financial Services in 2021, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
In August 2021, Square announced its acquisition of Afterpay, a company offering a “buy now, pay later” service. Square will pay out $29 billion in stock and the process is expected to be finalized in the first quarter of 2022.
Square, Inc., the corporate owning entity, retitled itself as Block, Inc. on December 10, 2021. The main payments product for small businesses is still titled “Square”.
The company maintains a corporate office in San Francisco, California.