Brex, the credit card for startups, raised $100 million at a $2.6 billion valuation - more than double what it was worth nine months ago
- Credit card startup Brex announced Tuesday it raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund. The round valued Brex at $2.6 billion.
- This is the startup's third funding round in nine months. It has raised a total of $315 million in equity financing in the two years since it was created.
- Brex cofounder and co-CEO Henrique Dubugras told Business Insider that the company, known for its startup-friendly corporate cards, is going after new markets with a new offering that allows life science companies to earn points on high-cost purchases like lab equipment and conference tickets.
- Dubugras told Business Insider that he thinks Brex's valuation is fair, given that the company is generating real revenue - and that it's the consumer tech companies that most often find themselves with over-inflated valuations.
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Credit card startup Brex is well on its way to becoming the fastest-growing startup in Silicon Valley history.
On Tuesday, the popular fintech company announced it raised $100 million in Series D funding led by Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund with participation from several other existing investors.
Brex's flagship startup-friendly corporate credit cards launched about a year ago, and it has also expanded into corporate cards for e-commerce companies. As it's grown to go after larger customers, Brex has also introduced swanky new perks for cardholders, like a luxury lounge in San Francisco.
The news comes about 9 months after announcing a $125 million Series C in October. The round announced on Tuesday valued the two-year old company at $2.6 billion - more than double the valuation it held at the time of that last fundraising.
"The way we think about fundraising as a financial company is you always want to have a lot of cash on your balance sheet because banks and partners actually prefer you to do so because it inherently has less risk," Brex cofounder and co-CEO Henrique Dubugras told Business Insider.
On top of the round, Dubugras told Business Insider that Brex will begin offering a corporate card tailored to life sciences companies, with points earned on high-cost purchases like lab equipment and conference tickets.
"We looked at the size of the market and the value we could add, and it was big enough that we decided to spin it out into its own vertical," Dubugras said. "We literally don't know which vertical is next, but we are still having these discussions now. We look at one vertical at a time, and that was life sciences, so we don't know what's next."
The round was led by Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund - a fund that, technically, no longer exists, as it was dissolved after the departure of investor Mary Meeker from Kleiner Perkins. However, Dubugras says that Meeker and the rest of the Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund team were actually allowed to reunite to make this new investment in Brex, thanks to a provision that came when they became minority investors in the company at an earlier stage.
"It's less about the firm and more about the partners," Dubugras told Business Insider. "They are all super strong and have been super helpful since they invested."
Brex began fundraising after participating in Y Combinator's startup accelerator program in January 2017 and has raised a total $315 million in equity financing since. Even with its sky-high valuation and breakneck fundraising pace, Dubugras feels his two-year-old company is valued fairly, given the market demand.
"A lot of times it's consumer companies that are the most mis-priced," Dubugras told Business Insider. "For [enterprise] businesses you have real revenue - it's a real metric. It's hard to mis-price [enterprise] companies."