Plaid CFO Says IPO Can Wait as Revenues Jump 40%

Plaid's chief financial officer says the financial data network is not racing to go public.

Preparations for the initial public offering (IPO) are ongoing, but Seun Sodipo told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview posted Monday (March 30) that she is concentrating on growth, following a year in which Plaid's revenue jumped 40% to top $500 million.

The company, best known for linking consumer bank accounts to other apps, has been branching out into new areas such as payments and anti-fraud services, the WSJ notes. Plaid had piloted a new course as an independent firm after its $5.3 billion merger with Visa fell through five years ago, the WSJ added.

Plaid declined to give a timing for a potential IPO but said it is not imminent, the report added.

"My key focus is, first of all, to build a company that can exist as an independent company that delivers long-term, durable, sustainable growth," Sodipo told the WSJ. "What drew me to Plaid is, this is a company that I know has every right - that we're building into a company that can withstand the scrutiny of public markets."

As for the IPO, she added that it was part of her "mandate to get us ready if and when we believe the timing is right to go public. For me, it's a moment in time. It really is about the fundamentals of the business."

Plaid last month raised funds that valued the FinTech at $8 billion. A report by Bloomberg News said the company raised the money to give employees a way to gain liquidity for their shares.

More recently, Plaid joined forces with artificial intelligence (AI) company Perplexity as that firm introduced deeper financial research capabilities for its Perplexity Computer agentic AI product. This collaboration links Perplexity with Plaid's Portfolio feature.

Kathleen McGuirk, GTM AI lead at Plaid, wrote on the company's blog that Portfolio lets users securely connect their investment accounts through Plaid, allowing them to ask questions about their portfolio and get personalized answers in seconds.

"This marks a meaningful step as financial services shifts to intelligent finance, where your data doesn't just sit in an app or static interface, it informs AI experiences designed to respond to you," McGuirk said. "At Plaid, we believe that this is the future of financial services, and we are thrilled to partner with Perplexity on making that vision a reality."