Dive Brief:

• Mobile payments startup Square Inc. has confidentially filed for an initial public offering of its shares, sources have told Bloomberg.

• The Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2012 allows businesses that, like Square, have reported less than $1 billion in revenue to privately work out the details of an IPO with the SEC. Neither Square or the banks reportedly involved in the IPO have commented or confirmed the report.

• Square processed some $30 billion in payments last year and has been expanding its suite of services to businesses, including analytics, sales tracking, and loan services.

Dive Insight:

Square is most visibly known for its little square gizmo and the way it has enabled merchants to expand and improve their point-of-sales systems. But the company has been developing a series of other, back-end services like inventory and payroll for retailers that have been especially useful to smaller merchants.

An IPO could provide even more funding for Square to expand than the consistent rounds of funding it has attracted so far. And that could propel the company as a competitive payments company for retailers, just as mobile is poised to take off and as PayPal flexes its freedom after its split with eBay.