这家公司已成长为一头难以击败的金融巨兽
两年前，我从一位专门投资支付和金融科技企业的风险投资家那里听到这样一句话：“Square是一头野兽。”他确信，这家由杰克•多尔西执掌的公司（他更知名的身份当然是推特的首席执行官）正在成长为一个不容小觑的金融巨头。
9月15日，Square宣布推出一项全新的薪资服务，鼓励企业通过Square向员工发工资，并允许员工获得高达200美元的工资预支。正是这项新服务让我想起了那位风投家的评论。这些安排将为企业提供更大的资金使用灵活性，而且便于员工更快地领到工资，因为企业的工资支付将不必依赖动辄需要几天时间来处理的传统银行系统。
这一切的关键是Cash App。Cash App于2013年推出，最初是一款类似Venmo的应用程序，主要用于朋友之间的转账。现如今，这款备受千禧一代欢迎的转账应用程序已经能够提供一套完整的银行服务，比如直接存款和借记卡等。此外，这款应用程序还成为了Square的提款机。上个季度，Cash App为该公司赚取了高达2.81亿美元的毛利润，其用户数量也增至3,000万。
通过调整Cash App来提供薪资服务，Square策马扬鞭，准备蚕食安德普翰（ADP）和其他人力资源巨头的地盘。从长期来看，它可能会利用这款应用程序进入税收或投资建议等领域。事实上，Cash App已经开始提供购买股票和加密货币的工具。
与此同时，Square建立起了一项利润可观的企业客户贷款业务——企业可以凭借它们从不断增长的Square硬件终端获取的销售收入来申请贷款。（你知道Square销售售价800美元的收银机吗？）
对于这样一家以帮助农贸市场小贩通过其iPhone手机接受信用卡支付而成名的公司来说，所有这些都是巨大的进步。从这个早期的细分市场开始，Square建立了一门类似于苹果公司多触角生态系统的生意，也就是利用一个硬件锁定客户，促使他们使用一系列其他产品和服务。除此之外，该公司还受益于消费者在新冠疫情期间对现金日益厌恶的情绪。难怪Square的股价今年已经飙涨了150%。
不过，Square正在崛起的金融堡垒还远远谈不上固若金汤。它并不是唯一一家寻求将一款转账应用程序打造成银行帝国的公司。PayPal正急于用其Venmo应用程序做同样的事情。与此同时,另一家默默无闻的支付巨头Shopify正在利用其“网站即服务”业务，为数百万商家提供金融产品。更不用说科技巨头苹果和谷歌都建立起了自己的支付帝国，并且有可能利用各自的支付服务挖走Square的客户。
但这些竞争对手目前都没有一项像Square这种规模的双向支付业务，即同时向消费者和企业提供类似银行的金融服务。正因如此，至少就目前而言，Square已经是一头难以击败的金融巨兽。（财富中文网）
译者：任文科
两年前，我从一位专门投资支付和金融科技企业的风险投资家那里听到这样一句话：“Square是一头野兽。”他确信，这家由杰克•多尔西执掌的公司（他更知名的身份当然是推特的首席执行官）正在成长为一个不容小觑的金融巨头。
9月15日，Square宣布推出一项全新的薪资服务，鼓励企业通过Square向员工发工资，并允许员工获得高达200美元的工资预支。正是这项新服务让我想起了那位风投家的评论。这些安排将为企业提供更大的资金使用灵活性，而且便于员工更快地领到工资，因为企业的工资支付将不必依赖动辄需要几天时间来处理的传统银行系统。
这一切的关键是Cash App。Cash App于2013年推出，最初是一款类似Venmo的应用程序，主要用于朋友之间的转账。现如今，这款备受千禧一代欢迎的转账应用程序已经能够提供一套完整的银行服务，比如直接存款和借记卡等。此外，这款应用程序还成为了Square的提款机。上个季度，Cash App为该公司赚取了高达2.81亿美元的毛利润，其用户数量也增至3,000万。
通过调整Cash App来提供薪资服务，Square策马扬鞭，准备蚕食安德普翰（ADP）和其他人力资源巨头的地盘。从长期来看，它可能会利用这款应用程序进入税收或投资建议等领域。事实上，Cash App已经开始提供购买股票和加密货币的工具。
与此同时，Square建立起了一项利润可观的企业客户贷款业务——企业可以凭借它们从不断增长的Square硬件终端获取的销售收入来申请贷款。（你知道Square销售售价800美元的收银机吗？）
对于这样一家以帮助农贸市场小贩通过其iPhone手机接受信用卡支付而成名的公司来说，所有这些都是巨大的进步。从这个早期的细分市场开始，Square建立了一门类似于苹果公司多触角生态系统的生意，也就是利用一个硬件锁定客户，促使他们使用一系列其他产品和服务。除此之外，该公司还受益于消费者在新冠疫情期间对现金日益厌恶的情绪。难怪Square的股价今年已经飙涨了150%。
不过，Square正在崛起的金融堡垒还远远谈不上固若金汤。它并不是唯一一家寻求将一款转账应用程序打造成银行帝国的公司。PayPal正急于用其Venmo应用程序做同样的事情。与此同时,另一家默默无闻的支付巨头Shopify正在利用其“网站即服务”业务，为数百万商家提供金融产品。更不用说科技巨头苹果和谷歌都建立起了自己的支付帝国，并且有可能利用各自的支付服务挖走Square的客户。
但这些竞争对手目前都没有一项像Square这种规模的双向支付业务，即同时向消费者和企业提供类似银行的金融服务。正因如此，至少就目前而言，Square已经是一头难以击败的金融巨兽。（财富中文网）
译者：任文科
I heard that phrase—“Square is a beast”—two years ago from a venture capitalist who invests in payments and fintech firms. He was sure Jack Dorsey’s other company (Dorsey is better known as the CEO of Twitter) was on its way to becoming a financial behemoth.
I thought of the VC’s remark on September 15 when Square announced a new line of payroll services that will let companies pay their workers through Square, and let workers get paycheck advances of up to $200. Those arrangements offer businesses more flexibility with their capital. They will also let workers get paid quicker, since payroll arrangements will not have to rely on the conventional banking system, where payments take days to process.
The key to all this is Cash App. Launched in 2013, Cash App began life as a Venmo-like app to transfer money among friends. The millennial money-mover has since evolved into a full-blown banking service that offers direct deposit, debit cards and more. The app has also turned into a cash machine for the company, earning $281 million in gross profit for Square last quarter while it grew to 30 million users.
By adapting Cash App to provide payroll services, Square is poised to muscle onto the turf of ADP and other HR giants. In the longer term, it could use the app to move into fields like tax or investment advice. Cash App already offers tools to buy stocks and cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, Square has already built up a healthy business providing loans to its business customers—letting them borrow against the sales that come in through payments on its growing array of hardware terminals. (Did you know Square sells $800 cash registers?)
These are huge advances for a company that made its name helping farmers' market vendors accept card payments via their iPhones. From this early niche, Square built out a business that now resembles Apple’s multi-tentacled eco-system—one that uses a piece of hardware to lock customers into an array of other products and services. On top of all this, the company is benefiting from consumers’ growing aversion to cash in the pandemic era. Little wonder Square’s share price has climbed 150% this year.
Square’s emerging financial fortress is far from secure though. The company is not the only one that wants to parlay a cash transfer app into a banking empire—PayPal is rushing to do the same with its Venmo app. Meanwhile, quiet giant Shopify is leveraging its website-as-a-service business to offer financial products to its millions of merchant customers. And tech giants Apple and Google have payments empires of their own, which they could adapt to poach customers from Square.
But none of these rivals currently possess a two-sided payments business—providing banking-like services to both consumers and businesses—on the scale of Square. That’s why, for now, the company is the beast to beat.
