After raising $200 million in new funding, payments company Square is spending some of this cash on an acquisition. Square has purchased New York-based design firm 80/20. The acquisition was first reported in the New York Times.
As the company writes on its website:
At 80/20, we’ve been fortunate to work on amazing products and platforms. In every project, we’ve started with the belief that the best design gets out of the user’s way and that you can craft unforgettable user experiences by keeping things simple and obsessing over the details. That’s why we’re thrilled to announce that we’re joining Square…Together, we will reimagine and redesign how people communicate through commerce everyday, all around the world.
This is the second acquisition for Square. The payments company bought a small video production team about a year ago.
A Square spokesperson said of the acquisition: “80/20 is an amazingly talented design team. Their experience designing beautiful products for some of the most well-known technology companies in the world will be a huge asset to Square.”
This definitely seems to be a big talent acquisition in terms of design. The firm has three co-founders: Andrew Borovsky, Jerry Knight, and Andrew Lin. Borovsky led the product design of MobileMe at Apple, and Borovsky, Knight and Lin all previously worked as designers at Adobe. 80/20 has worked on design for a number of companies and products, including Warner Bros., Verizon, Motorola, Vodafone and Sony. And it’s not surprising that a design firm was one of Square’s first acquisitions. Not only are designers in major demand in Silicon Valley, but Square co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has always placed a major importance on design in products.
80/20 will also become the New York headquarters for Square, and marks the first official entry for the company in the Big Apple. “We’re excited to establish a presence in New York, home to over 50,000 Square merchants, many current and potential partners, and some of the most talented designers and engineers in the world,” a spokesperson for Square said of the new office.