Plaid (company)
Plaid is a financial services company based in San Francisco, California. The company builds a data transfer network that powers fintech and digital finance products.
The company builds a technology platform, which enables applications to connect with users’ bank accounts. Plaid focuses on enabling consumers and businesses to interact with their bank accounts, check balances, and make payments through financial technology applications. The company operates in the U.S., Canada, the UK, France, Spain, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
On January 13, 2020, Visa announced that it was acquiring Plaid for $5.3 billion.
History
Plaid was founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey. The pair originally attempted to build consumer financial management products, including budgeting and bookkeeping software. When confronted with difficulties in connecting bank accounts required for these tools, they decided to pivot their core business focus to a unified banking API.Funding
The company raised a $2.8M seed round from Spark Capital, Google Ventures, and New Enterprise Associates in late 2013. In 2014, they raised $12.5M from New Enterprise Associates.On December 11, 2018, the company announced a $250 million Series C round with a valuation of $2.65 billion. The funding round was led by Mary Meeker, with Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures joining as new investors. Former backers Goldman Sachs, NEA and Spark Capital also participated. It was later revealed by Plaid that both Visa and Mastercard invested in the round.
| Round | Date | Lead Investor | Amount Raised | Valuation |
| Seed | Sept 19, 2013 | Spark Capital | $2.8M | -- |
| Series A | Nov 15, 2014 | New Enterprise Associates | $12.5M | -- |
| Series B | Jun 19, 2016 | Goldman Sachs Investment Partners | $44M | -- |
| Series C | Dec 11, 2018 | Mary Meeker, Index Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz | $250M | $2.65B |
Acquisition
In January 2019, Plaid acquired competitor Quovo for $200 million.On January 13, 2020, Plaid announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion dollars. The deal is double the company’s most recent Series C round valuation of $2.65 billion, and is expected to close in the next 3-6 months, subject to regulatory review and closing conditions. According to the deal, Visa would pay $4.9 billion in cash and approximately $400 million of retention equity and deferred equity, according to a presentation deck prepared by Visa.