Plaid’s CFO sees AI usage taking off internally: ‘People are so excited to share what they’ve built over the weekend with AI’

Good morning. CFOs are increasingly involved in AI strategy. For Seun Sodipo, CFO at Plaid, the fintech startup that connects financial institutions, her coding experience has become a foundation for experimenting with large language models and AI. “AI in its best form, should be an accelerant to a business achieving their goals,” said Sodipo, who has a degree in applied mathematics, an MBA, and has worked at Stripe, Glossier, as well as stints in investment banking and private equity before joining Plaid as finance chief last October. Plaid, led by co-founder and CEO Zachary Perret, connects consumers’ financial accounts to third-party apps and services, providing infrastructure that powers a range of fintech apps, including payments and money-management tools like Venmo. In April 2025, Plaid completed a $575 million funding round led by Franklin Templeton that valued the company at about $6.1 billion. After Visa’s acquisition of Plaid fell through in 2021, the company continued operating independently. In February 2026, Plaid reached an $8 billion valuation, marking a 31% increase from the prior year. The fundraising was structured as a secondary share sale, allowing long-standing employees to cash out equity rather than raising fresh capital for the company’s balance sheet.AI as an accelerant More than 400 AI companies now build on its infrastructure, according to Plaid, representing 20% of new customers in 2025. Management’s view is that the company is becoming the foundational infrastructure for an AI-native financial system. For her own work as CFO, Sodipo uses AI in practical ways: reclaiming time, preparing for meetings, organizing her week, and thinking through problems. But one of the most valuable uses, she said, is as a sounding board. “I use AI a lot as a thought partner,” she said. Sodipo uses AI to “game plan,” ask it to challenge her assumptions, poke holes in her arguments, and identify blind spots. For a CFO, tha