Fintech unicorn Brex, which provides technology solutions for handling corporate finances, has announced a $425 million Series D investment round led by Tiger Global.
The round brings the company's valuation to $7.4 billion, placing it in a leading position in the competitive world of corporate spend companies. Ramp, a rival of Brex, finished a two-part round worth $115 million just a few weeks ago.
Brex evolved from a credit card provider for startups to offering a full suite of technology solutions for businesses of all kinds, including employee and vendor cards and tools for tracking expenses and enforcing spend policies across companies.
"We used to say no to a lot of businesses," Henrique Dubugras, founder and co-CEO of Brex, told Cheddar. "Now we're saying yes."
Mid-sized businesses, however, are still the company's main clientele. To better serve these customers, Brex earlier this week launched an all-in-one dashboard for viewing credit card and cash accounts and managing bill pay software.
“Growing and maintaining a business should not depend on how good a small business owner is at managing their finances,” Cosmin Nicolaescu, CTO of Brex, said in a press release.
Dubugras said the pandemic has done little to hamper that growth area.
"Even though a lot of small businesses have suffered during the pandemic, it created opportunity for a lot more small businesses to be created," he said. "That's a lot of the business that we're serving."
These newer companies, he added, are more inclined to choose online-only solutions to serve their banking needs.
"Traditional mid-market companies... now understand that they need to automate their processes, reduce costs, digitize, and improve employee experience," Dubugras said.
The company plans to spend its new investment on a combination of hiring and product engineering, as well as shoring up its own finances for the future.
"Brex wants to survive any kind of pandemic, any kind of recession, so having a strong balance sheet and just having a lot of money in the bank for anything that might happen is also super important to us," Dubugras said.
Cracker Barrel said late Tuesday it’s returning to its old logo after critics — including President Donald Trump — protested the company’s plan to modernize.
Low-value imports are losing their duty-free status in the U.S. this week as part of President Donald Trump's agenda for making the nation less dependent on foreign goods. A widely used customs exemption for international shipments worth $800 or less is set to end starting on Friday. Trump already ended the “de minimis” rule for inexpensive items sent from China and Hong Kong, but having to pay import taxes on small parcels from everywhere else likely will be a big change for some small businesses and online shoppers. Purchases that previously entered the U.S. without needing to clear customs will be subject to the origin country’s tariff rate, which can range from 10% to 50%.
Southwest Airlines will soon require plus-size travelers to pay for an extra seat in advance if they can't fit within the armrests of one seat. This change is part of several updates the airline is making. The new rule starts on Jan. 27, the same day Southwest begins assigning seats. Currently, plus-size passengers can pay for an extra seat in advance and later get a refund, or request a free extra seat at the airport. Under the new policy, refunds are still possible but not guaranteed. Southwest said in a statement it is updating policies to prepare for assigned seating next year.
Cracker Barrel is sticking with its new logo. For now. But the chain is also apologizing to fans who were angered when the change was announced last week.
Elon Musk on Monday targeted Apple and OpenAI in an antitrust lawsuit alleging that the iPhone maker and the ChatGPT maker are teaming up to thwart competition in artificial intelligence.
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