移動支付新貴Square全力迎戰(zhàn)
????面對諸多緊隨其后的對手,日益嚴峻的競爭促使迅速成長的移動支付新貴Square不斷強化自己的管理隊伍。 ????星期三,該公司宣布聘請銷售力公司(Salesforce.com)的執(zhí)行官薩拉?弗萊爾擔任首席財務官。弗萊爾在銷售力公司時是負責財務與戰(zhàn)略的高級副總裁,她之前曾就職于高盛投資公司(Goldman Sachs)和麥肯錫(McKinsey)。 ????公司創(chuàng)始人、CEO杰克?多爾西正在著手打造公司的管理團隊,最近引來有不少人加盟,弗萊爾是最新加盟的一位。年初,Square挖來谷歌(Google)及特斯拉(Tesla)的資深員工里卡多?雷耶斯,擔當溝通及品牌營銷的副總裁,并請來前蘋果(Apple)執(zhí)行官耶西?多羅蓋斯克擔任硬件副總裁。但本月初,公司也遭遇了產(chǎn)品總監(jiān)梅根?奎因的高調離職,她跳槽至凱鵬華盈風險投資公司(Kleiner Perkins Caufield& Byers)。 ????Square公司推出了多款針對消費者和零售商的移動支付產(chǎn)品及應用,其中最有名的就是那款白色塑料信用卡讀卡器,把它插入移動設備就可以接受信用卡支付。現(xiàn)在已有100多萬的個人和零售商在使用其產(chǎn)品,它們的走紅使總部位于舊金山的Square公司成為高科技產(chǎn)業(yè)最炙手可熱的寵兒之一。該公司宣稱,它目前處理的交易按年計算達到了60億美元,而去年還只有20億。過去的一年,公司的員工也已從80人增加到了300多人。 ????“加入這家公司我很興奮,它推動了有意義的經(jīng)濟增長,同時也為消費者的移動體驗帶來了革命性的改變,”弗萊爾在新聞發(fā)布會上說。 ????但Square也面臨來自眾多競爭者的攻勢,它們家底殷實。最近的幾個月里,eBay的貝寶(PayPal)也引入了移動設備讀卡器和配套的應用,其功能完全在模仿Square公司的應用。銷售終端制造商巨頭惠爾豐(VeriFone)也如法炮制出了自己的讀卡器和全新的業(yè)務單元,針對的恰恰是Square公司的核心市場——家庭式零售商。據(jù)說,像團購網(wǎng)站Groupon和谷歌(Google)之類的公司也在緊鑼密鼓地推出新產(chǎn)品,將直接與Square公司展開競爭。 ????據(jù)知情者透露,Square公司此前已籌得1.4億美元投資,目前正在以30到40億美元之間的估值爭取2.5億美元的額外投資。這些人聲稱,Square的募款進度原本就已經(jīng)落后了兩個多月。Facebook首次公開募股遇冷后,有些投資者不太情愿為私營公司支付那么高的股價,結果導致Square的融資進度進一步放緩。 ????Square公司拒絕就籌款事宜發(fā)表評論。 ????譯者:杜偉華 |
????Square, the fast-growing mobile payments startup, is beefing up its management ranks as it faces intensifying competition from a number of well-heeled rivals. ????The company said Wednesday that it hired Salesforce.com (CRM) executive Sarah Friar to be its chief financial officer. Friar served as senior vice president of finance and strategy at Salesforce, and previously worked at Goldman Sachs (GS) and McKinsey. ????Friar is the latest in a series of executives to join Square recently, as its founder and CEO Jack Dorsey rounds out the company'smanagement team. Earlier this year, Square tapped Ricardo Reyes, a veteran of Google (GOOG) and Tesla, as its vice president of communications and brand marketing, and Jesse Dorogusker, a former Apple (AAPL) executive, as its vice president of hardware. But the company also suffered a high-profile defection earlier this month when Megan Quinn, its director of product, left to join venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. ????Square, which has introduced a number of mobile payment products and apps for consumers and merchants, is best known for its while plastic credit card readers that plug into mobile devices and allow just about anyone to accept credit card payments. The popularity of those devices, which are now used by more than 1 million individuals and merchants, has turned San Francisco-based Square into one of tech's hottest startups. The company says it is currently processing transactions at an annualized rate of $6 billion, up from just $2 billion late last year. It has grown from 80 employees to over 300 in the past year. ????"I'm thrilled to join a company driving meaningful economic growth while revolutionizing the payment experience for consumers," Friar said in a press release. ????But Square is also under attack from a growing number of deep-pocketed competitors. In recent months, eBay's (EBAY) PayPal unit introduced a competing card reader for mobile devices as well as a set of apps that mimic the functionality of Square's apps. VeriFone, the giant maker of point of sale terminals, followed suit with its own card reader and a new business unit that is going after the same kind of mom-and-pop merchants that have been Square's core market. And others, like Groupon (GRPN) and Google, are said to be close to introducing products that will directly compete with Square's. ????Square, which has already raised about $140 million from investors, has been seeking an additional $250 million or so at a valuation between $3 billion and $4 billion, according to people familiar with the situation. But its fundraising efforts, which have dragged on for more than two months, have slowed further following Facebook's (FB) troubled IPO, which has made some investors less willing to pay high prices for stakes in private companies, these people said. ????Square declined to comment on its fundraising efforts. |