Plaid Launches New Tool For Enterprise Developers

Plaid, the FinTech that assists financial services companies with app development to connect with users’ bank accounts, rolled out a new tool for API developers of enterprise applications.

According to a news report in TechCrunch, the new SDK (software development kit) for enterprises will allow developers within companies that have zero financial background to build banking functionality into any app. Given there are a slew of scenarios where an app would need to connect to a bank account, the SDK could prove to be popular.

“At a high level, we are the middle layer between you and your bank,” Zach Perret, CEO at Plaid, told TechCrunch in an interview. In addition to helping companies connect with users’ bank accounts, it also can track transactions, confirm identities, check balances and verify income, reported TechCrunch.

According to Perret, Plaid is aiming to stand out from the pack by making the API developer experience simpler. Part of the way the company does that, noted the report, is by building an interface that is attractive and easy to add Plaid features to any app. Although the latest SDK is geared toward enterprises, Perret told TechCrunch it’s keeping its developer-focused approach the company adopted with its first tool kit.

The report noted that Plaid, which raised close to $60 million since its launch in 2012, could add 9,600 banks as customers, including Wells Fargo, Citi and Chase. In its most recent fundraising round, Plaid was able to raise $44 million last June from investors including Goldman Sachs, NEA and Spark Capital, noted TechCrunch.

APIs are growing in popularity in the financial services industry as they make it easy for developers to add different functionality to apps without having to build them from the bottom up. Plaid isn’t the first to develop APIs nor will it be the last, particularly in the FinTech, banking and digital payments markets.