Fintech startup Plaid secures funding from Citi Ventures and American Express Ventures

Citi Ventures and American Express Ventures have made investments in Plaid Technologies, Inc., a San Francisco-based financial technology firm.

Launched in 2012, Plaid serves as the foundation upon which thousands of financial technology (fintech) applications have been built. The latest investments from Citi and AmEx are part of the startup’s previously announced $44 million Series B round led by Goldman Sachs Investment Partners.

"We're excited to have both Citi Ventures and American Express Ventures as part of Plaid's journey to help build a more inclusive financial ecosystem," said Zach Perret, CEO and co-founder of Plaid. "We built Plaid to help developers, consumers, and leading institutions create and embrace financial innovation. These new investments will enable Plaid to continue delivering on its mission to advance innovation and create seamless and secure user experiences for customers."

Plaid's infrastructure allows consumers to connect their bank accounts into the financial applications they use to manage their day-to-day lives. From small startups to public companies like PayPal/Venmo, Capital One, Lending Club, and more, Plaid's infrastructure powers applications that ultimately benefit tens of millions of consumers. Plaid's suite of APIs was created to enable innovation in financial services.

The company said that it intend to use this round of funding to scale operations, enhance product offerings and grow the team. 

"Plaid has emerged as the preferred choice for developers when it comes to financial services APIs, creating opportunities to build new and more innovative interfaces for bank customers to transact," said Arvind Purushotham, Managing Director and co-Head of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures. "We're excited to support Plaid as they continue to deliver better access to clean, high-quality financial data, enabling innovation and a secure infrastructure for the financial services ecosystem."

"Plaid's technology is helping financial institutions verify account information in a more secure and efficient manner, enabling them to deliver their customers innovative products and services in a seamless experience," said Rohit Bodas, Partner at American Express Ventures. "We are pleased to support Plaid's continued growth by participating in its latest funding round."