SAN FRANCISCO, USA: Renowned venture capitalist Vinod Khosla is joining the board of Square, a company headed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that allows consumers to pay for goods using their mobile phones.

Menlo Park, California-based Khosla Ventures led Square's initial $10 million venture round in 2009 and participated in its second $27.5 million round this year. That round, led by Sequoia Capital, valued the company at $240 million.

Gideon Yu, who spearheaded Khosla Venture's investment in San Francisco-based Square and sat on its board, left Khosla recently to join the San Francisco 49ers as chief strategy officer. Yu previously served as chief financial officer of Facebook.

Square allows retailers with its proprietary card reader to take payments using customers' mobile phones. Its chief executive is Dorsey, who co-founded microblogging sensation Twitter.

Khosla, who co-founded Oracle's Sun Microsystems, started his venture-capital firm in 2004. It has invested in companies such as Aliph, maker of the Jawbone headset, and Hunch, a service that helps consumers make decisions.