Visa to buy fintech provider Plaid in $5.3 billion deal

SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) — Visa has announced it will pay more than $5 billion to acquire financial technology company Plaid, which produces software for startups to connect to users’ bank accounts. Some of Plaid’s clients include payment app Venmo, investing app Robinhood and cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Gemini. The firm was founded in 2013 and is based in San Francisco. The deal is worth $5.3 billion, the companies said. Visa said three-fourths of the world’s online consumers used a financial technology, or fintech, application to move money in 2019, up from just 18 percent in 2015. It also said about 25 percent of U.S. bank accounts have used Plaid to connect to more than 2,600 fintech developers. “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,” Plaid co-founder Zach Perret said. Visa said it the deal should close in three to six months. Reporting by Clyde Hughes