At a Glance

  • Fintech company Plaid has appointed former Stripe executive Seun Sodipo as its new head of finance. Sodipo said in a post on her LinkedIn on Friday that this is a "defining moment" for the data network company.
  • Plaid was co-founded in 2013 by CEO Zach Perett and board director William Hockey, and is headquartered in San Francisco. Sodipo said on LinkedIn that the company has "grown into one of the most widely used and trusted financial data networks in the world."
  • Sodipo said in an email statement: "Plaid sits at the center of a financial system that is rapidly evolving because of data, AI, and modernization. Today, more than half of Americans with a bank account have used Plaid to connect to an app or service. Over the past few years, we have expanded beyond bank connectivity into new areas like credit, anti-fraud, and payments, and revenue from these products has more than doubled this year."

In-Depth Analysis

As CFO, Sodipo said in an email statement that her "top priority is driving sustainable long-term growth. That means investing in areas with strong customer demand, strengthening data and analytics capabilities, and maintaining disciplined execution to balance innovation with profitability."

Sodipo previously served as CFO at global beauty brand Glossier for four years, starting in October 2021, during which time she drove an 80% increase in retail sales (according to her LinkedIn profile). She also held several roles at payments platform Stripe, including head of product finance and strategy, and was a vice president at private equity firm Insignia Capital Group.

She succeeds Eric Hart, a former Expedia executive, becoming the second head of finance in Plaid's history. Plaid appointed Hart as its first CFO in October 2023, amid potential IPO rumors (as reported by CFO Dive at the time). Hart left Plaid in May to return to Expedia as chief strategy, business, and corporate development officer (according to his LinkedIn profile).

The company has no IPO plans this year, but a spokesperson told TechCrunch in April that it remains a milestone Plaid continues to "work toward." At that time, the company announced the completion of its latest funding round, a $575 million raise led by Franklin Templeton, valuing the company at $6.1 billion. CEO Perrett said in a blog post at the time that the proceeds would "be used to address employee tax withholding obligations related to the conversion of vested RSUs into shares and to provide some liquidity for the existing team."

Sodipo's appointment comes as the company continues to execute its strategy of expanding its product suite, a strategy adopted after the 2021 Visa acquisition plan failed due to antitrust concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.

On October 15, Plaid released its fall product update, including a new credit scoring solution called LendScore, designed to provide banks and financial institutions with consumer credit scoring data. According to the release, LendScore will analyze real-time cash flow data, income patterns, and account activity to better understand "how borrowers manage their finances and identify risky behaviors that could impact their ability to repay."

Plaid said its network covers real-time activity for more than 150 million consumers and over 7,000 apps, and noted that its first LendScore model "can predict 12-month default risk with a 25% improvement in predictive performance compared to traditional credit data."