Revenue at Plaid Inc., which provides the pipes fintechs and banks use to talk to each other, jumped more than 25% last year, according to a person familiar with the matter, as at least half of all U.S. consumers encountered its technology in some way.

The growth came despite what was a lean time for most fintechs, particularly those that serve consumers. As interest rates increased after the Covid-19 pandemic, fintech funding dried up and borrowing suddenly became drastically more expensive. While many newcomers got squeezed, Plaid expanded.

The company has also started offering identity verification and credit products, using the vast troves of information it gathers from its core business. Use of the ID tool surged more than 400% last year and use of its core payment product more than tripled, according to the company, which is based in San Francisco.

“There’s just this truly renewed sense of optimism going into 2025,” Chief Executive Officer Zach Perret said in an interview. “It’s way more fun to operate in fintech spring than it was to operate in fintech winter.”

While banks used to chafe at working with their fintech competitors, most have come around to the idea that partnering with Plaid and others like it can be beneficial as their customers go online for financial products. The company, which last week announced the opening of a new office in Raleigh, North Carolina, said the number of banks that became customers jumped 50% last year.

Plaid is also poised to benefit from new rules finalized last year by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that make it easier for consumers to access and share their financial data. While a handful of bank lobbying groups sued almost immediately to block the effort, many of their member banks already have agreements with Plaid to share data. Plaid has long said that data-sharing agreements are better strategies than relying on screen scraping, where consumers give the company access to their account data without their banks expressly agreeing to turn it over.

“Certainly we are supportive of consumers having access to their financial data and being able to have access to the wealth of digital finance products out there, be they built by fintech, be they built by the bank themselves,” Perret said.

Plaid is also positioning itself for further expansion by targeting larger enterprises as clients – think large utilities or telecom companies — so customers can enter their bank account details to pay recurring bills instead of using credit or debit cards. Walmart Inc. announced plans last year to offer instant pay-by-bank options.

“Anywhere we write a check, anywhere we do a wire transfer, those are great targets to replace with pay-by-bank, because a bank-linked payment is far smarter than a check, and it’s far cheaper than a wire transfer,” Perret said.

Growth metrics aside, Perret doused speculation that the closely watched company had any immediate plans for an initial public offering.

“Our hope is that we will get there in the next couple years, but no plans for a 2025 IPO,” he said. “We are thrilled about Plaid, the trajectory that we’re on, the growth rate we have, and my immediate focus is continuing to scale up our new products.”