Plaid has acquired Quovo, a New York-based fintech start-up focused on providing wealth management and brokerage data, for an undisclosed price.
Image: US fintech startup Quovo acquired by Plaid. Photo: courtesy of rawpixel/Unsplash.com.
Based in the US, Plaid is a fintech company that links consumer bank accounts with Venmo, Coinbase and other fintech apps. The company’s suite of APIs enables developers to build financial products.
Quovo said that Plaid’s position in bank account connectivity will be complemented by its investment, insurance, and loan account coverage.
The company said that the combination of the two platforms will provide better experience for their customers and give scope for new services to be developed that consider the full financial picture of the modern day consumer.
Quovo, in a statement, said: “When we started talking with Plaid about what the future might look like as a combined company, it quickly became clear that we’d be stronger together.
“We share a vision for a future where consumers are able to lead easier, healthier financial lives. We share a commitment to building great products that power innovation, access, and exceptional consumer experiences.”
Quovo’s platform for investment and brokerage aggregation is used by fintech companies like Betterment, Wealthfront and SoFi, and also certain established players in wealth management like Stifel, Vanguard, John Hancock and Empower Retirement.
Plaid said that along with the New York firm, it will develop a single platform that will enable both developers and large companies to build any financial application, ranging from payments to lending to wealth management.
In a blog post, the company wrote: “Financial applications have historically used Plaid primarily to interact with checking and savings accounts. In acquiring Quovo, we are extending our capabilities to a wider class of assets.
“Our goal is to make money easier for everyone, and doing so requires that we consider consumers’ financial lives holistically.”
Last month, Plaid secured $250m investment through a series C financing round, which it will use to expand its fintech ecosystem.
In May 2018, Plaid announced its first international market in the form of Canada where it launched its full API suite, including EFT authentication through its Auth endpoint. The US fintech startup said that it added coverage for Canadian financial institutions like Royal Bank of Canada, TD Canada Trust, Scotiabank, Bank of Montreal, Tangerine and CIBC.