Financial-technology startup Plaid Inc. is making a move into the payments business, less than a year after an antitrust lawsuit scuttled its high-price sale to Visa Inc.
Plaid makes software that allows banks and other fintech companies to plug into their users’ financial accounts, with their permission, and access their financial data to look up account balances or authenticate personal financial details. Plaid unveiled a new program Thursday that will use the software to make it easier and cheaper for consumers and businesses to make digital payments funded by their bank accounts.