Plaid’s Employee Share Sale Values Company at $8 Billion

Plaid, a company connecting financial apps to users’ bank accounts for payments and data verification, confirmed to TechCrunch that it has allowed employees to sell some shares at an $8 billion valuation. This represents a 31% increase from its $6.1 billion valuation after a $575 million round led by Franklin Templeton in April last year, aimed partly at buying shares from employees to help them cover taxes from converting expiring RSUs to shares. Despite the new valuation, it’s still 40% below its $13.4 billion peak in 2021 when fintech valuations soared due to ultra-low interest rates. Using liquidity as a retention tool has become common among private companies; recent examples include Stripe allowing employees to sell shares at a $159 billion valuation, as well as companies like Clay, ElevenLabs, and Linear. These transactions help with employee retention, cover tax bills from RSUs vesting, and relieve pressure on management to pursue an IPO prematurely.