Brex Inc. is an American financial service and technology company that offers business credit cards and cash management accounts to technology companies.[4] 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.[5]Emigrant Bank issues the Brex cards.[6]
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.[7][8][9]
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.[10]
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.[6]
In April 2022, Brex launched Brex Empower, a financial software platform to help people comply with their employers' expense policies.[11] In June 2022, Brex exited the small and midsize businesses (SMB) market, shifting the company's focus to serving enterprise customers.[12] In August 2022, Brex named Doug Adamic as the company's new chief revenue officer.[13]
According to CNBC, Brex received billions of dollars in deposits from SVB customers on March 9, 2023—a day prior to SVB's collapse.[14] The following year, CNBC ranked Brex fourth on its 2024 Disruptor 50 list.[15]
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.[16]
^"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)
^"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.
^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.
