Plaid reveals strategic investments from Mastercard and Visa
API developer for banks, Plaid, revealed that Mastercard and Visa were among those to participate in its Series C $250 million funding investment last year.
Plaid has acknowledged there is “a lot of opportunity and potential to align with both Visa and Mastercard moving forward” on a global scale – whether that means the fintech will move further into the payments space, it is yet to be announced.
Plaid works with more than 15,000 banks and powers 80% of the largest fintechs globally
“We have long been inspired by the work these networks did to digitise commerce, and hold this as an example for what we hope to accomplish in financial services,” says Plaid’s CEO Zach Plaid.
Although the fintech will not reveal the amount of these investments, Plaid says it is very excited to see its data expansion efforts taken further by institutional backers like Mastercard and Visa.
With customers such as Venmo, Acorns and Betterment, Plaid works with more than 15,000 banks and powers 80% of the largest fintechs globally.
Visa’s investment is one of the latest ways it is bringing the “global scale, brand, security and reliability of Visa to the fintech community,” says Visa’s EVP of the strategy group, Bill Sheedy.
For Mastercard, its motive to invest was driven by what it perceived its clients needed: private and secure personal information and products which enhance the everyday interaction and experience, according to its EVP of digital partnerships, Sherri Haymond.
