Government regulators have given the go-ahead for Mastercard to acquire Finicity, a startup headquartered in Salt Lake City that specializes in open-banking APIs. The transaction is anticipated to be valued at $825 million.

Mastercard communicated in a release, “We have been informed that the Department of Justice has finished its examination of our intended acquisition of Finicity and has authorized us to proceed. We are delighted to have achieved this stage.”

Finicity provides a platform enabling users to control the sharing of their financial data and determine who can manage financial decisions on their behalf, utilizing open APIs. This acquisition will enable Mastercard to provide expanded options to both consumers and businesses in these types of transactions, simplifying the process for them.

Records from Crunchbase indicate that Finicity secured approximately $80 million in venture funding while operating as a private entity. Upon completion, this deal will represent one of the most substantial fintech acquisitions of 2020, nearing a value of $1 billion.

The DOJ’s approval arrives shortly after the agency initiated an antitrust lawsuit contesting Visa’s planned $5.3 billion purchase of Plaid. Plaid, a key provider of data networks for numerous financial services – including Venmo and Acorns – is facing allegations that the acquisition would establish Visa as a dominant force in the online debt services market.

Plaid has refuted these allegations, stating that “Visa plans to strongly defend the transaction.” Simultaneously, federal authorities are reviewing Intuit’s proposed $7 billion acquisition of Credit Karma, initially announced in February 2020.

The clearance of the Mastercard-Finicity deal could positively influence valuations for fintech startups. Following heightened regulatory attention on both the Plaid and Credit Karma transactions, it remained uncertain whether large-scale mergers and acquisitions would remain viable for fintech companies valued at $1 billion or more.

Had regulatory obstacles blocked such deals, fintech startups might have been compelled to pursue earlier, smaller-scale sales or postpone plans for an initial public offering. This could have led venture capitalists to reduce their investments in the sector. However, the approval of the Finicity acquisition demonstrates that not all fintech M&A deals exceeding $500 million will face significant regulatory challenges. This news is expected to be favorably received by companies with late-stage fintech valuations.