Plaid (company)

Plaid was founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey.[5] The pair originally attempted to build consumer financial management products, including budgeting and bookkeeping software.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] It was later revealed by Plaid that both Visa and Mastercard invested in the round.[9]

In January 2019, Plaid acquired competitor Quovo for $200 million.[10]

On January 13, 2020, Plaid announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion dollars.[11][12] The deal is double the company’s most recent Series C round valuation of $2.65 billion,[13] 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,[14][15] according to a presentation deck prepared by Visa.[16]