Street Fight Daily: Square Secures Credit, GrubHub Shares Soar
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology
Square Secures Credit in ‘Low Hundreds of Millions’ (CNBC)
Mobile payments company Square has secured a new revolving credit facility as the burgeoning startup seeks more permanent capital to grow. The exact amount of the credit facility is unclear, but the company—which turns five this year—received access to capital in the “low hundreds of millions,” those familiar with the deal said.
GrubHub(s) vs. Uber(s) vs. Yelp(s): Making Sense of the Mayhem in Local Commerce (Street Fight)
Steven Jacobs: Last week, ride-sharing service Lyft announced that it had closed a $250 million round of funding to compete with Uber in what will likely become a capital-intensive — and noisy — race around the world. But the battle over transportation is just one example of a wider push by tech companies to reinvent traditionally offline industries by developing lightweight marketplaces.
GrubHub Shares Surge in Debut (Wall Street Journal)
Investors’ appetite proved hearty for the stock-market debut of GrubHub as shares of the operator of websites and apps for ordering takeout food online rose 31% Friday. Money managers salivated over the company’s rapid revenue growth and its emergence as the leader in what GrubHub argues is a huge market.
Payment Technology: If it Ain’t Broke… Start an Entire Industry to Fix it. (Street Fight)
Michael Boland: Mobile payments is an exciting area of cultural and technological disruption, and at the same time a solution in search of a problem. Somewhere in all the excitement, we seem to have forgotten that paying for things with cash or credit card ain’t broke.
TPG Said Close to Airbnb Investment After Snags Resolved (Bloomberg)
TPG Capital is close to signing an agreement to invest in room-sharing service Airbnb at a $10 billion valuation after resolving disagreements over the terms. The private equity firm was leaning against investing in the San Francisco-based company earlier this week amid debate over the startup’s value and other issues.
The Problem With Local Search and Discovery (Pat Kinsel)
Pat Kinsel: After working at Microsoft, founding Spindle, and toiling in the salt mines of local and social search for many a year, I know a bit about people ‘discovering nearby’ via their phones. Unfortunately, I’ve come to realize it’s a exceedingly difficult space. Given the number of people that have reached out with ideas, I thought it might be worthwhile to document the challenges as I see them.
SMB Mobile Website Adoption in U.S. Now 23% (Screenwerk)
A Hibu survey released last week found that only 6% of SMBs had mobile-optimized sites. But the SMBs recognized mobile was now an important channel and estimated that they could be making in excess of $60K more per year with a mobile site.
Waze CEO Confirms Google Paid $1.15B for the Company, Hints That Investors Forced the Deal (TheNextWeb)
Google completed its acquisition of Waze last June, but only now has the price tag that it paid for the Israel-headquartered social mapping startup and a hint at why the company sold out been revealed. A blog post on LinkedIn from Noam Bardin, who is CEO and co-founder of Waze, confirms that Google agreed to a $1.15 billion deal to buy the company.
Amazon Teases Home Barcode Scanner for Ordering Groceries (Wall Street Journal)
Amazon.com on Friday announced plans to offer a handheld device to more easily order groceries and other household goods from home. The wand-like device, dubbed Dash, can scan product barcodes or users can speak the names of goods into a microphone to log orders to AmazonFresh grocery delivery accounts.
Google Pays $1.4M to Italian Privacy Regulator Over Street View Car Markings (GigaOm)
Google has paid a $1.4 million fine to Italy’s privacy regulator over its Street View program, though not for the usual reasons. In one of the sillier European privacy cases involving Street View, the company has also agreed to notify towns’ citizens through local papers and radio of the cars’ impending arrival.
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