FinTech: Plaid Extends Its April $425M Funding To Include JPM And Amex

Plaid did not disclose the amounts received, however.
Plaid has announced today an extension of its April $425 million Series D round that was led by Altimeter Capital with participation from new investors, Silver Lake and Ribbit Capital. The expanded round now includes funding from J.P. Morgan Private Capital Growth Equity Partners and existing investor Amex Ventures. (Plaid)
The round then valued Plaid at $13.4 billion. However the current top-up funding will not change that valuation.
“These are storied companies intrinsic to the fabric of financial services, and are important partners,” said Plaid CEO Zach Perret in a blog announcing the funding. “Both J.P. Morgan’s Growth Equity Partners and American Express will be critical in our effort to enable great financial outcomes for consumers and drive innovation in the industry.”
A tumultuous year in 2020
Plaid enables linkages between people’s bank accounts and the various financial apps they use for managing finances – for example, Venmo, Coinbase, and Expensify. Because of the pandemic, people across the world shifted to digital transactions.
Unsurprisingly, hundreds of new banks joined its platform, and over 4,000 companies turned to it for the infrastructure to support their businesses. Many of these were the largest Fortune 500 companies. Plaid’s customer base surged 60% in 2020.
Plaid’s deal to be acquired by Visa (NYSE: V) collapsed, but in hindsight, and considering its current valuation, Plaid is better off without Visa’s $5.3 billion.
“As we look to support the massive growth in fintech, we’ll be accelerating our investments in building products that enable an open, easy to use, and secure financial services ecosystem,” Perret added.
In comments emailed to PYMNTS.com, Amex Ventures Managing Director Lindsay Fitzgerald said that since the days of their initial investment, Plaid had become “essential fintech infrastructure, propelling a new generation of applications to market faster.”
Related Story: Plaid Collects $425M At A Solid $13.4B Valuation

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