COVID-19 Venture

Brex Cuts Staff After Raising $150M

A little over a week after announcing $150 million in new funding, fintech startup Brex is laying off part of its staff.

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In a blog post published Friday, co-CEOs Pedro Franceschi and Henrique Dubugras wrote that 62 people would be let go. The company, best known for its corporate credit cards for startups, will be prioritizing building over growing this next year, according to the post.

“Three months in, it’s clear that the impact of COVID-19 won’t be short-lived. We know that the pace of growth won’t be what we expected for the foreseeable future,” the CEOs wrote. “This unique situation created the space for us to think about the future of Brex, and how we could use this time to accelerate our mission — to reimagine financial systems so every growing company can realize their full potential.”

The company will be taking another look at investments that don’t make sense, and some teams will be reduced, along with changed roles and some people being asked to switch teams.

Brex is far from the first well-funded, buzzy startup to have layoffs amid the COVID-19 pandemic. But the layoffs are a bit surprising, given that the company announced just last week it raised $150 million in funding in a round from investors including Lone Pine Capital and DST Global that valued the company at just over $3 billion.

“I’m glad this round came together, but if it hadn’t, we would’ve been fine,” Dubugras recently told TechCrunch in an interview about the new round. “The capital is so we can play offensive while everyone else plays defensive.”

In a statement announcing the new funding, Brex said it would be using the money to invest in engineering, product and design. It also planned to “use a combination of organic efforts as well as small acquisitions to supplement its hiring and product development efforts.”

Illustration: Dom Guzman

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