John Backus

John Backus is the Chief Technology Officer of Cognito at Plaid and is currently based in Miami, Florida, having relocated from San Francisco in April 2021. He originally co-founded the identity verification and compliance platform Cognito in 2013, successfully guiding the early-stage startup through the Y Combinator Summer 2014 batch. As the company's primary technical leader, he scaled its core infrastructure to verify millions of global users before Plaid acquired the business for approximately $250 million in cash and stock in January 2022. Prior to achieving this major exit, he earned a computer science degree from Stanford University and served as the Technical Lead at the decentralized identity startup Bloom Protocol. His professional background and current focus remain strictly centered on building scalable financial technology infrastructure, KYC/AML compliance systems, and advanced identity verification software.