Microsoft has teamed up with San Francisco-based FinTech Plaid on a new software app: Money in Excel.
Initially only available to Microsoft 365 US subscribers, Money in Excel will allow users to securely connect all of their financial accounts so they can manage, track and analyze their money and spending habits, all within the app. Financial accounts are connected via a Plaid Link from within Excel.
Launched in 2013, Plaid uses a unified application programming interface (API) to link FinTech apps with people’s bank accounts. The company has boasted that currently one in four people with a U.S. bank account have used Plaid to connect to more than 2,600 FinTech developers across more than 11,000 financial institutions.
COO Eric Sager noted that he believes that every company will eventually become a FinTech in some way, adding that one of Plaid’s customers, a leading car manufacturer, is utilizing FinTech to streamline its lending process.
“Plaid has always focused on powering innovators. To date that has consisted primarily of developers at startups like Venmo, Square, Acorns, Blend, Dave and others,” he said. “However, it might surprise people to learn that we are talking to more than 25 percent of Fortune 100 companies about serious FinTech initiatives.”
Earlier this year it was announced that Visa had signed a deal to purchase Plaid for $5.3 billion. In a 2018 funding round, Plaid had a valuation of about $2.65 billion. Visa CEO Al Kelly said at the time that the deal “opens up new market opportunities by significantly expanding Visa’s network capabilities.” Plaid is also expected to increase Visa’s top-line growth in the current fiscal year by around 30 to 40 basis points, and between 80 to 100 basis points in 2021.
In the meantime, Plaid recently expanded into the Netherlands, which is a hub for FinTech in Europe, with over 400 fintech companies, including one of the biggest global FinTech unicorns. The company is also working on building integrations with the largest financial institutions in the region, including ING, Rabobank, and ABN Amro. Developers can now use Transactions, Identity, Auth, Balance, and Assets.
