移动支付新贵Square全力迎战

    面对诸多紧随其后的对手，日益严峻的竞争促使迅速成长的移动支付新贵Square不断强化自己的管理队伍。

    星期三，该公司宣布聘请销售力公司（Salesforce.com）的执行官萨拉•弗莱尔担任首席财务官。弗莱尔在销售力公司时是负责财务与战略的高级副总裁，她之前曾就职于高盛投资公司（Goldman Sachs）和麦肯锡（McKinsey）。

    公司创始人、CEO杰克•多尔西正在着手打造公司的管理团队，最近引来有不少人加盟，弗莱尔是最新加盟的一位。年初，Square挖来谷歌（Google)及特斯拉（Tesla）的资深员工里卡多•雷耶斯，担当沟通及品牌营销的副总裁，并请来前苹果（Apple)执行官耶西•多罗盖斯克担任硬件副总裁。但本月初，公司也遭遇了产品总监梅根•奎因的高调离职，她跳槽至凯鹏华盈风险投资公司（Kleiner Perkins Caufield& Byers）。

    Square公司推出了多款针对消费者和零售商的移动支付产品及应用，其中最有名的就是那款白色塑料信用卡读卡器，把它插入移动设备就可以接受信用卡支付。现在已有100多万的个人和零售商在使用其产品，它们的走红使总部位于旧金山的Square公司成为高科技产业最炙手可热的宠儿之一。该公司宣称，它目前处理的交易按年计算达到了60亿美元，而去年还只有20亿。过去的一年，公司的员工也已从80人增加到了300多人。

    “加入这家公司我很兴奋，它推动了有意义的经济增长，同时也为消费者的移动体验带来了革命性的改变，”弗莱尔在新闻发布会上说。

    但Square也面临来自众多竞争者的攻势，它们家底殷实。最近的几个月里，eBay的贝宝（PayPal）也引入了移动设备读卡器和配套的应用，其功能完全在模仿Square公司的应用。销售终端制造商巨头惠尔丰（VeriFone）也如法炮制出了自己的读卡器和全新的业务单元，针对的恰恰是Square公司的核心市场——家庭式零售商。据说，像团购网站Groupon和谷歌（Google）之类的公司也在紧锣密鼓地推出新产品，将直接与Square公司展开竞争。

    据知情者透露，Square公司此前已筹得1.4亿美元投资，目前正在以30到40亿美元之间的估值争取2.5亿美元的额外投资。这些人声称，Square的募款进度原本就已经落后了两个多月。Facebook首次公开募股遇冷后，有些投资者不太情愿为私营公司支付那么高的股价，结果导致Square的融资进度进一步放缓。

    Square公司拒绝就筹款事宜发表评论。

    译者：杜伟华

    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.