Zach Perret — profile dossier

Identity and role

Zach Perret is the co-founder and CEO of Plaid, a financial-data network whose API connects fintech apps to users' bank accounts. He has held the role since founding the company in 2013.

Biography

Perret co-founded Plaid in 2013 with William Hockey (see the Plaid profile); his upbringing, Duke degree and Bain & Company years are cited to press profiles and LinkedIn; we do not have copies. Plaid originates and holds no loans.

The March 24, 2020 letter & pandemic relief

Perret signed the fintech coalition letter (published under OnDeck's banner) as "Zach Perret, Co-Founder & CEO, Plaid." Dated March 24, 2020, the letter asked Congress to give Treasury flexibility to push "upwards of $500 billion" to small businesses through online lenders, payroll processors, and others, and stated: "We seek no gain from this crisis. Our only aim is to protect the millions of small businesses that we are proud to call our customers."

In April 2020 Plaid launched a free tool it called SBA Verification, which let small businesses share payroll data with lenders for PPP applications (Plaid changelog and CNBC); Plaid said at least 100 lenders were interested.

We found no corporate borrower row for Plaid Inc. in an exact-name search of the SBA 2024-09-30 PPP FOIA files. Rows beginning with "Plaid" in the public data refer to unrelated borrowers.

Where they are now (2025–2026)

In November 2020 the Department of Justice sued to block Visa's acquisition of Plaid (DOJ releases); Visa and Plaid abandoned the merger on January 12, 2021 (Visa release). Plaid stayed independent and private. In April 2025 it raised $575 million at roughly a $6.1 billion valuation, down from about $13.4 billion in 2021 (TechCrunch), and in February 2026 completed an employee share sale at an $8 billion valuation (TechCrunch). Perret remains CEO (Plaid event page).

Sources held in this archive

Original source documents and archived captures

Sources

OnDeck, "Request to Approve $500 billion in Funding to Small Businesses" (letter, Mar 24, 2020): OnDeck letter to Congress Mar. 24, 2020 (original: ondeck.com) our copy of the letter
DOJ, "Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid" (Nov 5, 2020): DOJ, "Justice Department Sues to Block Visa's Proposed Acquisition of Plaid" Nov 5, 2020 (original: justice.gov · stored capture)
DOJ, "Visa and Plaid Abandon Merger After Antitrust Division's Suit to Block" (Jan 12, 2021): DOJ, "Visa and Plaid Abandon Merger After Antitrust Division's Suit to Block" Jan 12, 2021 (original: justice.gov)
Visa newsroom, Visa/Plaid termination and Perret quote (Jan 12, 2021): Visa newsroom, Visa/Plaid termination and Perret quote Jan 12, 2021 (original: usa.visa.com · stored capture)
Plaid changelog, "SBA Verification" PPP tool (Apr 2020): Plaid changelog, "SBA Verification" PPP tool Apr 2020 (original: plaid.com · stored capture)
CNBC, "Plaid gives lenders access to start-up payroll data for SBA loans" (Apr 6, 2020): CNBC, "Plaid gives lenders access to start-up payroll data for SBA loans" Apr 6, 2020 (original: cnbc.com · stored capture)
SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data, public_150k_plus_240930.csv and public_up_to_150k_*_240930.csv: SBA PPP FOIA loan-level data, public_150k_plus_240930.csv (original: data.sba.gov · stored capture) (link now dead; copy taken from the Internet Archive, 5 March 2025)
TechCrunch, "Plaid raises $575M at $6.1B valuation" (Apr 3, 2025): TechCrunch, Plaid $575M at $6.1B Apr 2025 (original: techcrunch.com · stored capture)
TechCrunch, "Plaid valued at $8B in employee share sale" (Feb. 26, 2026): TechCrunch, Plaid valued at $8B in employee share sale Feb 26, 2026 (original: techcrunch.com · stored capture)
Plaid, "Fintech Predictions returns for 2026" (Perret as co-founder/CEO): Plaid, "Fintech Predictions returns for 2026" Perret as co-founder/CEO (original: plaid.com · stored capture)
LinkedIn, Zach Perret profile (self-reported): LinkedIn, Zach Perret profile (self-reported) (original: linkedin.com · stored capture)