Plaid taps former Expedia exec as its new chief financial officer, says ‘no timeline’ for IPO

Fintech startup Plaid has hired former Expedia CFO Eric Hart to serve as its first chief financial officer.

When asked if the move meant that the company was planning to go public, a spokesperson told TechCrunch: “We do not have any plans to IPO at this time…It will be a milestone we consider at some point but no timeline to share.”

CEO Zach Perret shared the news on X, writing: “I’m thrilled to welcome Eric Hart to Plaid as our first CFO. Eric is an incredible leader, and his many years of experience building Expedia into one of the largest platforms in the world are inspiring. Excited for Eric to join us for the next phase of @Plaid!”

Hart spent over 13 years at Expedia, taking over as CFO in 2019. Prior to that, he served as Expedia’s chief strategy officer with responsibility for Expedia Group’s strategy and business development, as well as global M&A and investments. 

Plaid got its start as a company that connects consumer bank accounts to financial applications, but has since been gradually expanding its offerings to offer more of a full-stack onboarding experience. It was almost acquired by Visa for $5 billion before antitrust regulators shut that deal down. Plaid went on to raise funding at a $13.4 billion valuation after the deal fell through, and has worked to diversify its revenue streams since.

One of those efforts includes its anti-fraud payments product, Signal, which has been in the market for about 10 months, analyzing $3 billion worth of bank payments monthly. Overall, Plaid says it is on track to power 2 billion bank payments, which would represent a doubling of volume from the previous year and $10 billion in transaction value, a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email.

In an email statement, a Plaid spokesperson said “faster, easier payments are no good if they aren’t also safer.”

Founded in 2013 by Zach Perret and William Hockey, Plaid has over 1,000 employees.