Plaid, a startup that connects payment apps, such as Square Cash and Venmo to bank accounts, will be acquired by Visa for $5.3 billion. The eight-year-old company raised funding at a $2.65 billion valuation a year ago. Furthermore, it expanded beyond the U.S. to the U.K., France, Spain and Ireland, doubling its number of customers to reach 2,600. Visa is acquiring Plaid not for its revenue potential, but for the ballooning base of customers that comes from Plaid’s work with fintech apps, such as Square Cash, Acorns, Venmo, Robinhood and Coinbase. In addition to that, Plaid will be easily taken global. The acquisition is expected to close in three to six months.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2020/01/13/why-visa-is-buying
