Square Cash has processed $1 billion since its launch in nearly two years ago, Square disclosed yesterday.
You may have heard that Square filed the public documents for its IPO with the SEC yesterday. Inside the S1 was a wealth of information that the fintech community had been speculating about for years. Among that information was this tantalizing tidbit about Square Cash, the peer-to-peer payment service: “Since launch, people have sent over one billion dollars through Square Cash.”
Venmo, the putative king of P2P payments, reported $905 million processed in the fourth quarter of 2014 along, but its 367% YOY growth in 2014 is reportedly slowing dramatically. Still, Venmo processed $2.4 billion in 2014.
Businesses using Square Cash pay a 1.9% transaction fee, but it’s not known what percentage of Square Cash transactions are business-related. The IPO document does not break out that revenue. Square also indicated in the document it has incurred marketing costs related to acquiring Square Cash customers. That exact amount was also missing from the S1.
Square Cash was initially considered a play for cards on file and consumer business that is outside the company’s core competency of serving small businesses. That was corrected with the March 2015 launch of cashtags and the move to make it yet another way for business to easily pay and be paid.
Square also apparently lost more then $56 million on the Starbucks deal — ouch! And it was defrauded of some $5.7 million by a single seller, according to the S1.
The company’s quarterly revenue is steadily increasing, but it is still losing money.
Matt Harris, managing director of Bain Capital, noted on Twitter that, net the Starbucks deal and issuer and network fees, Square is a $400MM business growing 55% annually. Because it is breaking even on a cash basis, Square is worth $2.5 billion to $3 billion, Harris said. Square last raised capital at a $6 billion valuation.
We should all be rooting for them. Good people, helping merchants and with the potential to validate fintech at scale.
— Matt Harris (@mattcharris) October 15, 2015
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