Confidential · Executed in Counterparts

Non-Competition
& Non-Solicitation Agreement

Effective
March 14, 2025
Jurisdiction
State of Texas
Reference
NCA-2025-0314-SE
Company
Meridian Ledger, Inc.
A Delaware corporation
501 Congress Avenue, Suite 1400
Austin, Texas 78701
Departing Employee
Daniel R. Whitfield
Senior Software Engineer, Payments
Last day of employment: March 28, 2025
Austin, Texas
In consideration of the Employee's access to proprietary source code, customer data, trading algorithms, and strategic roadmaps developed by Meridian Ledger, Inc., and in further consideration of the separation benefits provided under the accompanying Severance Letter, the parties agree to the restrictions set forth below.
12months
Restricted Period
50miles
Geographic Radius
Fintech
Restricted Industry
01

Scope of Restriction

For a period of twelve (12) months following the Employee's last day of employment, the Employee shall not, directly or indirectly, own, manage, operate, consult for, or be employed by any business that competes with the Company within the financial technology sector, specifically including firms engaged in digital payments infrastructure, embedded banking, real-time settlement, card issuance, or consumer lending platforms.

02

Geographic Territory

The restrictions set forth in Section 1 apply within a fifty (50) mile radius of the Company's principal office at 501 Congress Avenue, Austin, Texas, as well as any metropolitan area in which the Employee performed material work on behalf of the Company during the final twenty-four (24) months of employment.

03

Direct Competitors

Without limiting the generality of Section 1, the following entities and their affiliates are expressly identified as Direct Competitors for the duration of the Restricted Period:

  • Stripe, Inc. and its subsidiary Bridge Financial
  • Adyen N.V. (U.S. operations)
  • Marqeta, Inc. and competing card-issuing platforms
  • Plaid Inc., Finicity, and open-banking aggregators
  • Any pre-seed through Series C fintech startup building competing payments rails
04

Non-Solicitation

During the Restricted Period, the Employee shall not solicit, recruit, or induce any current employee, contractor, or customer of the Company with whom the Employee had material contact during the final twelve (12) months of employment. This restriction extends to passive outreach conducted through intermediaries or recruiting firms.

05

Permitted Activities

Nothing herein shall prevent the Employee from (a) accepting employment with a non-competing business, including enterprise SaaS, healthcare technology, or infrastructure companies outside the fintech vertical; (b) holding passive investments of less than one percent (1%) in publicly traded securities; or (c) contributing to open-source projects not directly tied to competing commercial offerings.

06

Reasonableness & Consideration

The Employee acknowledges that the restrictions are reasonable in scope, duration, and geography, and are supported by adequate consideration including continued access to confidential information during employment and the separation payments described in the Severance Letter dated March 14, 2025.

07

Remedies

The Employee agrees that a breach of this Agreement would cause irreparable harm for which monetary damages would be inadequate, and the Company shall be entitled to seek injunctive relief in addition to any other remedies available at law or in equity, including recovery of reasonable attorneys' fees.

Governing Law & Venue
Texas Business & Commerce Code §15.50 et seq.
Exclusive venue:
Travis County, Texas
For the Company
Authorized Signature
Eleanor K. Marsh  ·  General Counsel
Date
Departing Employee
Signature
Daniel R. Whitfield
Date