4. Brex

Founders: Henrique Dubugras, Pedro Franceschi (co-CEOs)
Launched: 2017
Headquarters: Salt Lake City, Utah
Funding: $1.4 billion
Valuation: $12.3 billion (PitchBook)
Key technologies: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, generative AI, machine learning, software-defined security
Industry: Fintech
Previous appearances on Disruptor 50 List: 3 (No. 2 in 2023)

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse in March 2023 was a windfall for Salt Lake City-based fintech firm Brex. The startup, which first came to prominence by offering a business credit card with high limits and a spend management platform, stepped in to extend credit lines to companies impacted by the SVB collapse. Within 36 hours, Brex signed up nearly 4,000 companies, taking in close to $2 billion in deposits.

Those gains built on the success Brex had already found in the market, which led it to early on raise $1.4 billion in venture capital from the likes of Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital and DST Global.

Since SVB, Brex has continued to invest in differentiated services, including AI-powered tools to help streamline expense reporting, booking and management capabilities, accounts payable and procurement management. 

Brex is also winning more business from larger enterprise customers. In fact, co-founder Henrique Dubugras shocked the startup and fintech community in 2022 when he said the company would stop serving smaller companies as it had become “less suited to meet the needs of smaller customers.” It has since backtracked on that position, and has doubled down on its roots serving tech startups. In the last year, Brex opened a new San Francisco office (after closing its office early in the pandemic) to cement ties with the tech community.

The spend management space has become more crowded, with fellow Disruptors Ramp and Navan, as well as Expensify, Mesh Payments, Airbase and Center competing for market share. Stiff competition is costly for companies which end up paying high customer acquisition fees, spend more in marketing and end up with high churn rates.

Brex’s growth also has been tempered by the realities in the tech space. Tech companies laid off more than 191,000 workers in 2023 — a trend that has continued into 2024. The impact of those reductions is rippling through companies that cater to startups. In January, Brex cut 20% of its workforce, or 282 people.

In a blog post about the job cuts, CEO Pedro Francheschi wrote, “looking inward, I realized we grew our org too quickly, making it harder to move at the speed we once did.”

Francheschi also unveiled a “flatter” company structure, removing layers of management.

According to The Information, Brex spent an average of $17 million a month in the fourth quarter, even as revenue growth slowed. CFO Ben Gammell told PitchBook that more new wins are coming from larger customers, churn has been “trending down,” and he doesn’t foresee more cost cuts.