GIC invests in US digital payment company Square

SINGAPORE — Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC has invested an undisclosed amount of money into Square, a United States-based technology startup created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and American computer science engineer Jim McKelvey.

Square specialises in digital payment services, with products such as Square Register, a free point-of-sale app on both the Android and iOS systems.

A GIC spokesman declined to comment on the size of the investment, but according to a New York Times report from last Sunday (Oct 5), Square had previously filed to raise at least US$100 million (S$127 million) in venture capital.

NYT added that the latest round of investments now places Square’s total valuation at around US$5 billion to US$6 billion.

In a statement today (Oct 10), GIC noted that “the rising secular trend and penetration of mobile payment software will present good investment opportunities”.

Square’s most notable competitors include Apple, which recently introduced a new commerce product Apple Pay during the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, and PayPal, which is expected to spin off from eBay next year.