The Fancy is a Pinterest rival that is known for curating style and fashion. Fancy has raised $26 million in funding and was rumored in August to be getting acquired by Apple. It sounds like the Apple acquisition will not be happening now that the company has raised a new round of funding.
Mobile payments company Square is expanding to Canada. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey co-founded Square two years ago and the tablet/smartphone credit card reader company has grown by leaps and bounds. Stripe is used by local coffee shops and all of Starbucks’ U.S. locations.
Square has announced that they are opening a new office in San Francisco. Square is currently based in the Chronicle Building in downtown San Francisco and they will be moving to 1455 Market Street (Central Market area). They will be moving in the new building by mid-2013.
Peek is a company that helps you plan trips when you are visiting places in California and Hawaii. Peek is a website that has helpful suggestions about what things to do in a foreign city and the ability to plan and book events. According to Peek founder Ruzwana Bashir, over 80% of travelers research online before going to a destination but only 20% of activities are booked online. This is because most vendors do not have online campaigns.
Jack Dorsey is the co-founder of Twitter and he returned as the executive chairman after taking a 2.5 year break from the day-to-day operations at the company. His role has been “reduced” at the company. His Twitter co-workers complain that Dorsey is difficult to work with and he changes his mind repeatedly about product directions.
Mobile payments company Square has partnered with Starbucks. Now Square will start processing all U.S. credit and debit card transactions at participating Starbucks stores across their 7,000 locations. This would definitely boost Square’s annual payment processing of $6 billion per year. “Pay with Square” users will be able to find a nearby Starbucks using the Square Directory from their iPhone or Android smartphone.
Mobile payments company Square is getting close to raising about $200 million in a round of funding led by Rizvi Traverse Management according to The New York Times. Square would have a valuation of $3.25 billion, which is double what they were worth about a year ago.
Mobile payments company Square will be expanding internationally soon said Square CEO Jack Dorsey. Dorsey was one of the founders of Twitter and was invited to speak at a panel about innovation at the Allen & Co. media conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. “I don’t know what I’ll be talking about exactly,” said Dorsey when talking to reporters.
