Visa to Buy Plaid for $5.3 Billion in Bid to Reach Startups (2)

Visa Inc. grew into one of the world’s most valuable financial companies by serving as the pipes that help connect banks and merchants.

Now, it’s making a major bet on doing the same for data between banks and financial startups.

Visa agreed to pay $5.3 billion for Plaid, a fintech firm that connects popular apps like Venmo to customers’ data in the established banking system. The deal caps a meteoric rise for Plaid and aims to keep fueling Visa’s own ascent, which has seen its stock triple in the past five years. The sale price is double Plaid’s $2.65 billion ...