Plaid

Plaid is the widely used connectivity layer that lets applications securely access a user's financial data with their permission. When someone links a bank account inside a budgeting app, a neobank, a lending product, or a payments flow, there is a good chance Plaid is powering that connection, retrieving account and routing numbers, balances, transaction history, and identity details from thousands of banks and credit unions. Beyond data access, Plaid has expanded into payments, offering pay-by-bank and account funding that move money directly between bank accounts, and into risk and fraud products such as network-based fraud scoring and identity verification, plus tools for lenders to pull income and asset data. Plaid positions itself around open banking and has invested in the shift toward regulated data-sharing standards. It is used by a large share of US fintech companies as well as by established financial institutions. The company raised new funding in 2025 at a valuation well below its 2021 peak but returned to growth and profitability, with annual recurring revenue crossing half a billion dollars. Plaid is sold as a paid developer platform, priced per linked account and per API product, with enterprise agreements for high volume.