Startup profile for Plaid: latest funding, latest known valuation, total disclosed funding, investors, status, sources, and why the company is interesting. Part of the Venture Capital Tracker startup directory.
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Plaid funding, valuation and investors

Financial data network connecting apps to users' bank accounts via APIs.

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Funding, valuation & investors

Answer-first snapshot

Latest funding

Series D

$425M · April 2021

Latest known valuation

$13.4B

Series D · April 2021

Total disclosed equity funding

$425M

Excludes debt, grants, acquisitions, secondaries, and IPO proceeds.

Current status

private

growth · San Francisco, California, USA

Investors in latest funding

Lead: Altimeter Capital

Other: Andreessen Horowitz , Ribbit Capital , Thrive Capital

Sources: latest funding Last verified: 2026-07-25

Overview

Plaid builds APIs that let applications connect to users' bank accounts for account verification, balances, transactions, and identity data. Founded by Zach Perret and William Hockey in 2013, Plaid powers thousands of fintech apps including Venmo, Robinhood, and Coinbase. Visa's $5.3B acquisition was blocked by DOJ in 2021; Plaid raised $425M Series D at $13.4B instead. a16z, Index Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, NEA, Ribbit Capital, Spark Capital, and Thrive Capital participated.

Why Plaid is interesting

Fintech plumbing layer — a16z, Index, Kleiner, Ribbit, and Thrive re-upped at $13.4B (2021) after Visa acquisition collapsed; still default bank-linking infra for neobanks and crypto on-ramps.

Product & use cases

Plaid Link is the consumer-facing bank connection flow; backend APIs provide Auth (account/routing verification), Transactions, Balance, Identity, and Assets for underwriting. Plaid Exchange supports data connectivity partnerships with banks.

  • Neobank and PFM app account linking
  • Lending underwriting with transaction history
  • Crypto exchange ACH funding
  • Payroll and income verification for gig workers

Key facts

  • Series D (Apr 2021): $425M at $13.4B — Plaid blog
  • Visa $5.3B deal terminated Jan 2021 after DOJ antitrust suit
  • a16z, Index, Kleiner, NEA, Spark, Thrive, Ribbit re-upped in Series D
  • Co-lead Altimeter not in VCT directory
  • Powers major fintech and crypto apps via bank linking

Funding history (newest first)

Series D

2021-04 $425M Valuation: $13.4B

Source: https://plaid.com/blog/plaid-series-d/

Investors in our directory

Funds linked from Plaid's profile — open a fund page for stage focus and related deal articles.

Andreessen Horowitz Index Ventures Kleiner Perkins Ribbit Capital Spark Capital Thrive Capital New Enterprise Associates (NEA)

Competitive landscape

Edge: Massive fintech developer adoption and bank coverage created default status; switching costs embedded in thousands of app integrations.

Plaid sits at center of fintech stack but faces regulatory scrutiny on screen-scraping history and margin pressure from bank-led open banking. $13.4B valuation reflects strategic value; IPO timing uncertain. a16z fintech thesis treats Plaid as core infrastructure node.

  • MX / Finicity (Mastercard) direct

    Bank data aggregators competing for FI and fintech contracts.

  • Teller direct

    Developer-friendly open-banking API challenger.

  • Yodlee incumbent

    Legacy aggregation acquired by Envestnet; entrenched at banks.

  • Direct open banking (U.S.) adjacent

    CFPB 1033 rule may shift data access models over time.

Notable stories

  • DOJ blocking Visa-Plaid (2021) forced Plaid to stay independent and raise at $13.4B — rare antitrust win that kept fintech infra unbundled from card networks.
  • Plaid started as a weekend hackathon project to fix broken bank connectivity for fintech developers.

Industries

Fintech Infrastructure & Cloud Developer Tools

FAQs about Plaid

Practical answers founders, operators, and investors typically search for.

Plaid provides APIs that connect apps to users' bank accounts for verification, balances, transactions, and identity — the plumbing behind many fintech products.
Andreessen Horowitz (/fund/andreessen-horowitz), Index Ventures (/fund/index-ventures), Kleiner Perkins (/fund/kleiner-perkins), Ribbit Capital (/fund/ribbit-capital), Thrive Capital (/fund/thrive-capital), NEA (/fund/new-enterprise-associates), and Spark Capital (/fund/spark-capital) participated in the 2021 Series D.
Visa terminated its $5.3B acquisition in January 2021 after the U.S. DOJ filed an antitrust lawsuit to block the deal.
Plaid's April 2021 Series D was at $13.4B valuation per the company blog. Later private marks not verified here.
Plaid uses encrypted connections and OAuth where banks support it. Users authorize access per app; review plaid.com/security for current practices.
Both aggregate financial data for apps. Plaid leads among fintech startups; MX strong with financial institutions and acquired Finicity.
Zach Perret (CEO) and William Hockey co-founded Plaid in 2013.
Plaid connects data at user direction to apps they choose. Data use depends on app privacy policies; Plaid publishes consumer privacy commitments on its site.
No. Plaid remains private after Visa deal collapse and 2021 Series D.
Thousands of apps including Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Chime use Plaid for bank linking — check plaid.com/customers for examples.
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