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Starbucks Funds Square, Inks Payments Deal

By TechTaffy Desk

[Techtaffy Newsdesk]

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey’s mobile payment startup Square is going to be processing credit and debit card transactions for Starbucks at participating Starbucks retail outlets throughout the U.S. Starbucks is also going to invest $25 million in Square as part of the company’s Series D financing round. Chairman, president and CEO of the coffee behemoth Howard Schultz will join Square’s board of directors.

Customers will be able to use Pay with Square, Square’s payer application, from participating company operated U.S. Starbucks stores later this fall, in addition to the existing iPhone and Android Starbucks mobile payment applications. They can also find nearby Starbucks locations within the Square Directory. Using Square Directory, Starbucks customers will also be able to discover local Square businesses — from specialty retailers to crafts businesses — from within a variety of Starbucks digital platforms, including the Starbucks Digital Network and eventually the Starbucks mobile payment application.

Customers will need to download the Pay with Square application and set up an account on their iPhone or Android devices. The move to Square is expected to reduce Starbucks’s payment processing costs; currently the coffee giant operates one of the largest retail mobile payment platform in the U.S.

Howard Schultz (Chairman, president and CEO, Starbucks): The evolving social and digital media platforms and highly innovative and relevant payment capabilities are causing seismic changes in consumer behavior and creating equally disruptive opportunities for business..

More than two-thirds of the 27 million small businesses in the U.S. currently do not accept credit or debit cards.

[Image Courtesy: Mr. Jack Dorsey]

 

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