Plaid
FeaturedThe network that powers fintech.
Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey in San Francisco, Plaid was built to solve the impossible challenge of connecting financial apps to bank accounts in a secure, reliable, and developer-friendly way. Today Plaid connects over 8,000 financial apps including Venmo, Robinhood, Coinbase, and Cash App to more than 12,000 financial institutions. The company serves more than 200 million consumers and has become the invisible infrastructure layer behind virtually every major fintech product in the United States and Europe. Visa attempted to acquire Plaid for $5.3 billion in 2020 before the deal was blocked by regulators, after which Plaid continued independently, raised at a $13.4 billion valuation, and is now preparing for an IPO.
Active Founders
Zach Perret
Founder / CEO
Zach Perret is the co-founder and CEO of Plaid. He studied computer science at Duke University and previously worked as a management consultant at Bain before co-founding Plaid. Zach's vision of building the financial data layer for the internet has proven prescient — Plaid now underpins virtually every major consumer fintech product in the US and is expanding globally as open banking regulations create new opportunities in Europe and beyond.
William Hockey
Co-Founder
William Hockey is the co-founder of Plaid. He served as CTO during Plaid's critical early years, building the technical infrastructure that allows Plaid to reliably connect to thousands of financial institutions using a wide variety of APIs, screen-scraping, and direct data partnerships. William departed Plaid in 2019 to co-found Column, a nationally chartered bank built specifically for fintech developers.
