Mary Meeker Leads Funding Said to Value Plaid at $2.7 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Plaid Inc. has raised a new round of financing led by famed venture capitalist Mary Meeker on behalf of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

The funding round, early news of which circulated in October, will give San Francisco-based Plaid $250 million in fresh capital. The company is not disclosing its new valuation, but a person close to the deal said the startup is now worth $2.65 billion. That’s up from its previous valuation of less than $1 billion, following a financing round led by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in 2016.

Plaid makes developer tools that help power a range of financial apps and services, including Venmo, Coinbase Inc. and Acorns Grow Inc. Its technology lets those companies and others quickly and securely see client balances and authenticate accounts. As of this year, a quarter of people in the U.S. with bank accounts had used Plaid at some point, according to the company.

The funding round is likely to be Meeker’s final deal as a partner at Kleiner Perkins. Meeker severed ties with the once-mighty venture firm in September, and will begin raising funds early next year for the still-unnamed growth firm that she will lead. Meeker, who currently serves as a director on the boards of LendingClub Corp., Square Inc. and DocuSign Inc., will join Plaid’s board with the investment. She will retain those board seats, and Plaid’s, even after her departure from the firm, a Kleiner Perkins spokeswoman said.

Andreessen Horowitz and Index Ventures also participated in the the funding round, backing Plaid for the first time, joining previous investors Goldman Sachs, NEA and Spark Capital.

To contact the reporters on this story: Julie Verhage in New York at jverhage2@bloomberg.net;Lizette Chapman in San Francisco at lchapman19@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.net, Anne VanderMey

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