Square is now available in Australia

Image credit: Square.

US-based mobile payments startup Square announced it has brought its mobile point-of-sale system to Australia. It’s the company’s fourth market and the second one in Asia-Pacific after Japan.

Square made a splash in the US with its mobile credit card reader and point-of-sale software that allows merchants to accept credit card payments on their smartphone. It’s bringing its product to Australia with the help of local banking services company Cuscal and it will accept payments from Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. Square’s software platform has been available in the US since November 2014.

According to Sydney Morning Herald, Square will cost US$14 for merchants and incur a 1.9 percent fee per transaction (the hardware was free for merchants in the US, with the company making money from transaction fees).

Australia is Square’s fourth market and the second one in Asia-Pacific after Japan.

In a move to keep the hardware’s cost down, Square’s product doesn’t offer contactless payment, known as “tap-and-go.” It’s a bit of a glaring omission, given the predominance of contactless credit cards in the Australian market, but Square presumably hopes to balance that out with the lower cost of the hardware.

Competing services are already available in Australia, including Mint and Ingogo, which combines a payment system and a ridesharing app.

Square famously IPO’d in November 2015 at around US$9 per share, a lower price than the targeted US$13 per share and the US$15 per share price with which it raised money last year from private equity investors.

The company’s stock price has since dropped more than 30 percent, kicking off a wave of skepticism in tech startup valuations in Silicon Valley. CEO Jack Dorsey’s attempt to ride two horses, being simultaneously CEO of Square and Twitter, has further contributed to misgivings from the market.