They have raised $ 800 million in wealth. They dropped out of college the first year to create their own startup. So they didn’t even finish a year of college. Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi, 23 and 22, respectively, have already acquired the experience of a highly experienced Silicon Valley person; as well as his wealth.
They are the founders and chief executives of Brex. Brex is a new technofinance company, recently valued at $ 2.6 billion (about $ 2,300) and has had an unusual start. Dubugras was just 14 years old when he founded his first company, the developer of an internet video game. This was required to close because of patent infringement warnings. Shortly after, he teamed up with Franceschi to create another company: the payment processor Pagar.me, which had 150 employees, until they were sold in 2016. They both enrolled at Stanford University, but left before the end of the first year and started another new company: Brex.
Brex launched its first product on the market last year. It has already become a fintech favorite, taking its founder to a group of wealthiest entrepreneurs, at least on paper. According to an analysis by EquityZen, a stock market of technology firms that did not make their debut on the stock market, their stakes are worth $ 430 million in the company, totaling $ 800 million.
The growth of these Brazilian entrepreneurs has been rapid even for Silicon Valley standards, where leaving Stanford is almost a cliché to create a startup. Brex, founded two years ago, is one of the fastest-growing US companies with billion dollar valuation, Uber Technologies Inc. or Lime and Bird Rides Inc. along with horn skates.
In 2017, Brex was worth $ 25 million, according to data from PitchBook. The final round of funding set its value at $ 2 billion. The key product of the company is a credit card for startups and their employees, based on real-time data instead of traditional credit ratings. One of the catalysts for Brex's impressive valuation, according to its founders, is its ability to expand to other businesses.
The firm has recently introduced credit cards in e-commerce firms and life science companies. In addition to startup cards, Brex said it will also serve larger companies, offering tailor-made compensation and expense management cards.
Dubugras confirmed that Brex's new e-commerce businesses make up about a third of its revenue. It is also worth noting that another young man in tech-finance, Max Levchin, who founded a company that became PayPal Holdings at 23, is a Brex investor. Similarly, Peter Thiel, another founder of PayPal, and digital growth fund Kleiner Perkins and Ribbit Capital.