Plaid

Plaid is a leading fintech infrastructure company that simplifies the connection between consumers and their bank accounts for various financial applications. With an estimated annual recurring revenue (ARR) of $390 million in 2024, growing 27% year-over-year, Plaid serves over 8,000 customers, including major players like Venmo, Cash App, and Robinhood. The company operates on a usage-based pricing model, offering services such as account connection fees and API call charges, which have made it a preferred choice for emerging fintechs.

What sets Plaid apart from competitors like Yodlee and MX is its user-friendly, pay-as-you-go pricing and robust API documentation, which allows developers to easily integrate banking data into their applications. Plaid's innovative screen scraping technology aggregates data from thousands of banks, providing a seamless experience for fintechs and their users. With a valuation of $13.4 billion, Plaid has raised over $734 million since its inception in 2012, showcasing strong investor confidence.

Looking ahead, Plaid is expanding its offerings with new products in income and payroll verification, as well as ACH payments, positioning itself as a key player in the modern payment landscape. By leveraging its extensive network of 500 million linked bank accounts, Plaid aims to enhance its services and drive further growth, solidifying its vision of becoming the backbone of the fintech ecosystem.