Mubasher: Visa Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire Plaid, a fintech startup, in a $5.3 billion deal.
Plaid is a network that makes it easy for people to securely connect their financial accounts to the apps they use to manage their financial lives.
One in four people with a US bank account has used Plaid to connect to more than 2,600 fintech developers across more than 11,000 financial institutions.
Connectivity between financial institutions and developers has become increasingly important to facilitate consumers’ ability to use fintech applications.
Last year, 75% of the world's internet-enabled consumers used a fintech application to initiate money movement, compared with only 18% in 2015, according to Visa.
Commenting on the deal, Al Kelly, CEO and Chairman of Visa, said: “We are extremely excited about our acquisition of Plaid and how it enhances the growth trajectory of our business. Plaid is a leader in the fast-growing fintech world with best-in-class capabilities and talent. The acquisition, combined with our many fintech efforts already underway, will position Visa to deliver even more value for developers, financial institutions and consumers.”
Meanwhile, the CEO and co-founder of Plaid, Zach Perret, said “Plaid’s mission is to make money easier for everyone, and we are excited for this opportunity to continue delivering on that promise at a global scale. Visa is trusted by billions of consumers, businesses and financial institutions as a key part of the financial ecosystem, and together Visa and Plaid can support the rapid growth of digital financial services.”
“We have strong relationships with both Visa and Plaid. The combination of Plaid’s capabilities with the security and scale of Visa’s global network will provide us with exciting opportunities to enhance our products,” said Dan Schulman, President and CEO, PayPal.
Visa says the acquisition of Plaid represents both an entry into new businesses and complementary enhancements to its existing operations, expecting the acquisition to provide significant benefits to developers, financial institutions and, consumers.
