Square Buys P2P Startup Verse

Square Inc., the San Francisco-based payments platform, has announced it purchased Verse, the Spanish mobile app startup that allows users to make payments instantly at no cost.

While the terms of the sale were not revealed, MarketWatch reported the deal closed at between 30 million euros ($33.8 million) to 50 million euros ($56.3 million).

“We were drawn to Verse’s strong team, and they share a similar approach to us around inventing and learning to better serve customers,” Square said in a statement. “Verse will join the Cash App organization at Square, enabling the two teams to learn from one another as we provide them with additional support through Cash App technology and resources.”

Square said its priority is to enable Verse to continue their successful growth in Europe.

Since its launch five years ago, Verse has launched in more than 15 countries. The app is available in all 27 countries of the European Union (EU) and works with all the EU’s different currencies.

Verse will continue to operate as an independent business, working out of their offices with no immediate changes to their existing products, customers, or business operations, Square added.

The deal to buy Verse comes less than six months after Square acquired Dessa, a Toronto-based company, that was purchased to help the Square platform further boost its machine learning abilities, improve its products and ultimately pass on the benefits to its global customers, CrowdFundInsider.com reported.

“At this point, our main priority is enabling Verse to continue their successful growth in Europe,” Square said. “We are thrilled to have the Verse team on board and look forward to what we can create for our customers together.”

On the news, shares of Square improved by nearly 5 percent in trading Tuesday afternoon.

On Monday (June 15), Square Capital LLC announced it has processed more than $820 million in Small Business Administration (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans in six weeks.

The loans, it said, provided a financial lifeline to more than 76,000 small businesses.