CEO Nathan Xu told The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Thursday (Sept. 17) that the company will be ready for a U.S. public listing once its yearly revenue surpasses $1 billion.
Plaud, incorporated in 2022, said it is aiming for $500 million in global sales this year amid rapid growth. The company has reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue and now serves more than 2.5 million users in more than 170 countries, the WSJ report said.
Plaid designs artificial intelligence (AI)-powered note-taking devices and software. Its products include the Plaud Note, which can attach to a smartphone to record, transcribe and summarize phone conversations, the report added.
“I find it always difficult to keep track of all the best ideas and also the details, which causes a lot of pain [when] you feel that you are not able to catch up,” said Xu, an experience that inspired him to start the company.
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Xu said the startup was valued at more than $1 billion as of 2025 and is currently “highly profitable.”
Plaud has about 300 employees in China and around 100 in San Francisco, plus operations in Europe, Japan and Southeast Asia and on Wednesday (Sept. 16) opened its new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore, where its headcount has expanded to 100 employees from 10 in nine months, the WSJ said.
As Plaud expands, Xu said a main priority is hiring the “best talent,” a goal that is also guiding its acquisition strategy. The CEO said Plaud chiefly wants to acquire companies with robust talent that could help it build capabilities it can’t create quickly enough on its own, instead of adding new users or products.
PYMNTS wrote about the rise of AI note-taking technology last month, noting it has grown in popularity in the workplace as it seems to solve a problem.
“People would rather participate in a conversation than spend 45 minutes typing minutes nobody will read,” that report said. “The artificial intelligence tools can transcribe meetings, identify speakers, summarize decisions and extract follow-up tasks.”
However, the report also cites a Jackson Lewis analysis from attorneys Gregory C. Brown Jr. and Paul Y. Yim which argues that portable note-takers transform a productivity convenience into a potential workplace risk.
“The device doesn’t need the company’s network, software or permission. It only needs to be within earshot,” PYMNTS wrote.
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