Zach Perret. Image: Plaid
Plaid is preparing to ramp up its European expansion after a slew of new and existing backers pumped more money into the US fintech company.
Months after its takeover by Visa was abandoned, Plaid has raised $425m in a Series D round.
The San Francisco-based fintech company builds APIs for open banking that connect fintech start-ups with banks. The company is now reportedly valued at more than $13bn.
The new round of capital was led by Altimeter Capital with participation from Silver Lake Partners and Ribbit Capital.
Plaid has had a tumultuous 12 months but it still underwent rapid growth. Its deal to be acquired by Visa for $5.3bn was dropped in January after the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit to block the acquisition, citing competition concerns.
After this deal collapsed, Plaid suddenly found itself re-strategising for the future as its own company but investors are clearly still interested. It said that demand for its products continued to rise and it added more new customers in spite of the Visa deal not panning out.
Previous backers Andreessen Horowitz, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, New Enterprise Associates, Spark Capital and Thrive Capital all committed more funds to the company.
Chief executive Zach Perret said that company will be expanding further internationally and expects to see increasing demand for fintech and open banking specifically.
“This will include continued investment in APIs that help people connect a complete view of their finances, as well as tools and services to support enhanced privacy, personalisation, decisioning and automation,” he said.
Among the markets that Plaid wants to move deeper into is Europe, where there are several other open banking companies at play such as Railsbank, TrueLayer and Tink. Plaid entered the Irish market in 2019, and now has clients including AccountsIQ, Big Red Cloud, MyWallSt and Invoicefair.
“In Europe, this investment will help us extend our coverage to more geographies, expand our payment capabilities, and build a bridge across markets so that we can offer the most comprehensive open finance network that makes money easier for everyone,” Keith Grose, head of international at the company, said.
According to the company, it has more than 4,500 customers and integrates with 11,000 financial institutions.
