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Plaid, the startup plumbing much of the fintech economy, has no IPO plans for 2024, CEO Zach Perret told Axios' Lucinda Shen onstage at Fintech Meetup on Sunday.

Why it matters: This is the second closely watched IPO candidate to take its name off the 2024 speculation list.

Context: Founded in 2013, Plaid set the rumor mill abuzz last year when it hired former Expedia CFO Eric Hart as CFO. It added former Cloudflare CPO Jen Taylor as president last month.

What they're saying: "We have no immediate plans to IPO," Perret said, adding that "immediate" means in 2024.

"We've been fortunate to hire some truly amazing executives. And a lot of people said: Are you hiring a CFO because you want to go public? My response was we've never had a CFO," he said, noting the company now has over 1,000 employees.

State of play: Stripe, another heavily watched late-stage fintech, struck its name off the list last week when it said current and former employees could cash out in a $1 billion-plus employee tender offer.

The big picture: This all comes as Plaid has begun to leverage its network of banks and fintechs to expand beyond connecting financial data from one app to another.

Some of those developments have started to mirror the infamous "Plaid volcano" — a drawing made by a Visa executive showing what the fintech company could become, and why it could be a threat to the payments giant, per a DOJ lawsuit against Visa.

That image, which surfaced in 2020, suggested that Plaid could offer fraud tools and reporting and alternative payment rails.

Last year, Plaid launched an anti-fraud network and began offering pay-by-bank in partnership with Adyen — a service that would enable businesses to accept payments directly from banks and bypass card transaction fees.

"It said a lot of things that we could be doing," Perret said of the volcano. 

Though he noted: " The majority of our focus this year is going to be on navigating the open banking transition ... as we have to convert a lot of the connections that we have."

Background: The CFPB has been working on open banking rules that would govern how consumers share their financial data with different institutions — with expectations that a final rule may come later this year.

What we're watching: What comes after 2024? 

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to name Plaid as the company beginning to leverage its network of banks and fintechs. not Stripe.

No Plaid IPO for 2024

This is the second fintech IPO candidate to take its name off the 2024 speculation list.

Image of Zach Perret, CEO of Plaid, at Fintech Meetup in conversation with Lucinda Shen.

Plaid CEO Zach Perret speaks with Lucinda Shen at Fintech Meetup. Credit: Ryan Lawler/Axios

Fintech

Plaid, the startup plumbing much of the fintech economy, has no IPO plans for 2024, CEO Zach Perret told Axios&#x27; Lucinda Shen onstage at Fintech Meetup on Sunday.Why it matters: This is <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="the second" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/29/payments-stripe-never-go-public" data-vars-content-id="4090aada-9283-48e2-a426-89acc434ad76" data-vars-headline="No Plaid IPO for 2024" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/02/29/payments-stripe-never-go-public" target="_self">the second</a> closely watched IPO candidate to take its name off the 2024 speculation list.

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No Plaid IPO for 2024

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