Plaid partners Visa, Mastercard to get financial infusion

The Financial technology company Plaid Inc recently said that, it set to receive new support from the credit card giants Visa Inc and Mastercard Inc as part of a new round of Series C financing worth a total of $250 million.

The fintech startup, whose technology lets people connect their bank accounts to mobile apps like Venmo, did not disclose the size of Visa and Mastercard’s investment in a statement announcing the deal recently.

Plaid’s Chief Executive Officer Zach Perret said in a statement that, “financial services are in the midst of a digital revolution, led by the fintech market, we look forward to collaborating with Visa and Mastercard at the intersection of commerce and financial services.”

Plaid was founded in 2013 and has some $310 million in financing from backers including financial giants Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Citigroup Inc and American Express Co.

Meanwhile the Venture capitalist Mary Meeker in December led a Series C fundraise that reportedly valued the company at $2.65 billion, and Plaid says it now has around 400 employees in four cities.

Furthermore, the company gave little detail on how the credit card giants would factor into its business, said, “it would work with Mastercard and Visa at the intersection of payments and data access.”

In a statement, it was said that Plaid has been “expanding our data network this year,” and believes the deal will help accelerate those efforts.

Executive vice president of digital partnerships, Mastercard’s Sherri Haymond framed the investment as a vote of confidence in Plaid’s ability to make digital payments easier while ensuring data privacy. “Technology is making life easier in all walks of life,” Haymond said.

Visa’s Bill Sheedy said the investment would let Visa bring its “global scale, brand, security and reliability to the fintech community.”

 Source: Reuters