Fintech Brex raises US$150 million in Series C extension

Contxto – Brazilian-founded Brex raised an investment for US$150 million as an extension of a previous Series C round. Returning investors include DST Global and Lone Pine Capital.

The fintech had been experiencing a serious growth spurt through its core product: a corporate credit card for startups.

For now, Brex will focus on product development and improving the customer experience. To that end, the fresh funds are tagged for its engineering team as well as acquisitions.

The fintech added that growth will come “post-COVID-19.” Although it’s hard to tell when exactly that’ll be since it’s a gradual process that shall vary from state-to-state and country-to-country.

Either way, it now has the capital at hand to keep perfecting its product. 

• Related article: Brazilian Stark Bank raises investment for over US$1 million

Brex, a fintech for startups

At the age of 16, most teenagers are thinking of dating or driving a car. But what about founding a startup?

That’s just what Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi were up to when they launched Pagar.me, a payment processor in Brazil in 2013. Three years later, they sold their company, were admitted into Stanford—and dropped out eight months later.

The friends realized that their true calling was tech and entrepreneurship. And in the fall of 2016, Y Combinator admitted their startup, Beyond, into its program. The Brazilians’ initial plan was to work with virtual reality tech. However, through their participation in the accelerator, they realized there was a big opportunity in the fintech sector.

Dubugras and Franceschi noticed that numerous budding startups struggled with obtaining a loan or a corporate credit card. That led them to launch Brex in 2017, as a solution to startups’ financial pain points. 

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The best defense is a good offense

Since then, they’ve experienced a positive response and raised over US$400 million in venture funding. Likewise, it was valued at US$2.6 billion as of June 2019. And despite COVID-19 and the economic uncertainty that surrounds the startup ecosystem, Brex isn’t daunted.

“I’m glad this [recent] round came together, but if it hadn’t, we would’ve been fine,” stated co-Founder Henrique Dubugras. “The capital is so we can play offensive while everyone else plays defensive.”

Rightly so, with the imminent economic slowdown, it’ll soon be open season to acquire the best talent. And Brex is no noobie when it comes to acquisitions. Just last March it announced the purchase of three startups.

Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!

-ML