Brex

Brex Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryFintech
FoundedJanuary 3, 2017; 7 years ago (January 3, 2017)
Founders
  • Henrique Dubugras
  • Pedro Franceschi
HeadquartersNo headquarters[1]
Key people
  • Henrique Dubugras
  • (Co-CEO)
  • Pedro Franceschi
  • (Co-CEO)
Number of employees
Approximately 1,200 (2024)[2]
Websitebrex.com

Brex Inc. is an American financial service and technology company that offers business credit cards and cash management accounts to technology companies.[3] Brex cards are business charge cards, which require at least $50,000 in a bank account if professionally invested, if not with $100,000 to open, and cardholders who default won't damage their personal credit or assets.[4] Emigrant Bank issues the Brex cards.[5]

History

Brex was founded by Brazilian entrepreneurs Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi on January 3, 2017. They had previously founded an online payments company, Pagar.me, before selling it to Stone.[6][7][8]

Brex did not start as a fintech startup but rather as a VR startup, however the founders pivoted the company three weeks into Y Combinator's 12-week accelerator program.[9]

In February 2021, the company announced a submission application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions (UDFI) to establish an industrial bank named Brex Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Brex. According to TechCrunch, the subsidiary appointed a former Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) executive as CEO.[5]

In April 2022, Brex launched Brex Empower, a financial software platform to help people comply with their employers' expense policies.[10] In June 2022, Brex exited the small and midsize businesses (SMB) market, shifting the company's focus to serving enterprise customers.[11] In August 2022, Brex named Doug Adamic as the company's new Chief Revenue Officer.[12]

According to CNBC, Brex received billions of dollars in deposits from SVB customers on March 9, 2023—a day prior to SVB's collapse.[13]

In January 2024, Brex announced that it was laying off 300 of its employees, or roughly 20% of its workforce. The company cited slowing growth as a reason for the decision.

Growth

Brex Inc. is backed by Peter Thiel, Ribbit Capital, Y Combinator, DST Global, Kleiner Perkins, Lone Pine Capital, and Greenoaks.[14][15][16][17][18][5]

Funding history[citation needed]
Date Funding round Money raised Pre-money valuation
Mar 20, 2017 Pre-seed round $120k N/A
Apr 1, 2017 Series A $7M N/A
Jun 19, 2018 Series B $50M N/A
Oct 5, 2018 Series C $125M $975M
Apr 16, 2019 Debt financing $100M N/A
Jun 11, 2019 Series C $100M $2.5B
Dec 11, 2019 Debt financing $200M N/A
May 19, 2020 Series C $150M $2.9B
Apr 26, 2021 Series D $425M $7.4B

References

  1. ^ Calvey, Mark (19 August 2021). "Exclusive: Brex joins Coinbase in embracing no-headquarters model". American City Business Journals.
  2. ^ "Tech finance co Brex downsizes". 31 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Brex Small Business Card: If Square Could Work, Is There Potential Here?". PaymentsJournal. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  4. ^ "Home". upgradepoints.com. Retrieved 19 December 2019.
  5. ^ a b c Azevedo, Mary Ann. "Brex applies for bank charter, taps former Silicon Valley Bank exec as CEO of Brex Bank". TechCrunch.
  6. ^ Schoenberg, Gregg (8 November 2018). "Charge card startup Brex aims for decacorn success". TechCrunch.
  7. ^ "StoneCo. Ltd. Form F-1". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  8. ^ "StoneCo. Ltd. Form 6-K/A". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2019-11-19.
  9. ^ Rudgeair, Peter (5 October 2018). "The College Dropouts Who Rode Credit Cards Into The Billion-Dollar Startup Club". The Wall Street Journal.
  10. ^ Azevedo, Mary Ann (2022-04-13). "Fintech Brex bets big on software, lands DoorDash as a customer". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  11. ^ Lawler, Ryan (2022-06-17). "Scoop: Brex exiting SMB market to focus on enterprise customers". Axios. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  12. ^ Brex. "Brex Names Doug Adamic as Chief Revenue Officer". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2022-09-22.
  13. ^ Son, Hugh (March 10, 2023). "Fintech startup Brex got billions of dollars in Silicon Valley Bank deposits Thursday, source says". CNBC.
  14. ^ "About Us - Brex". brex.com. Archived from the original on 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-03-12. Brex is backed by Y Combinator, Kleiner Perkins, DST Global, PayPal co-founders Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, Lone Pine Capital, and fintech specialist Ribbit Capital.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  15. ^ "CFOs Will Get Their Own AI Chatbot as Part of Brex Project". Bloomberg.com. 2023-03-07. Retrieved 2023-03-12. Brex, a six-year-old startup backed by Tiger Global and PayPal Holdings Inc. co-founders Max Levchin and Peter Thiel, is valued at more than $12 billion and counts companies such as DoorDash Inc. and Airbnb Inc. among its clients.
  16. ^ Kruppa, Miles (2021-04-02). "Publicity-shy VC firm Greenoaks has bumper year". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  17. ^ Insider. "Brex's $57 Million Pitch Deck | Insider". www.businessinsider.com. Retrieved 2023-03-12. Brex already has more than 1,000 customers signed up with the help of backing from investors including PayPal co-founders Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, early Facebook investor Yuri Milner, former Visa CEO Carl Pascarella, and esteemed startup incubator Y Combinator.
  18. ^ "Fintech Startup Brex Collects $50 Million Series B". WSJ. Retrieved 2023-03-12.


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