San Francisco-based corporate card startup Brex is opening a downtown Seattle office.
A Brex spokesperson on Wednesday confirmed the move, adding that the company has more than 200 employees in the Pacific Northwest, including more than 60 in the Seattle area. The spokesperson didn't immediately provide details about the size or precise location of the office or when it will open.
"Brex has been thrilled to see the impact that tech, specifically the AI boom, has been having on Seattle. And while the city has always had an impressive tech talent pool, this recent AI boom has brought a new resurgence of interest and talent to the region," the spokesperson said in a statement to the Business Journal.
Brex will remain a remote-first company, and local employees will use the the Seattle office for hybrid work. Brex plans to continue building its team here, the spokesperson said, adding there has been a 70% increase in the number of Seattle artificial intelligence startups using Brex over the past year.
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Brex was co-founded by Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi in 2017 after the pair dropped out of Stanford University. The company provides corporate cards, business banking, expense management, business travel management and bill pay. Brex makes money from interchange fess on its cards, in addition to fees for its software. According to CNBC, Brex has raised $1.4 billion in total funding.
Brex, which was valued at $12.3 billion in 2022, has made a name for itself catering to startups, but it also has larger clients, including DoorDash, Flexport and SeatGeek.
Brex's president, Karandeep Anand, and its vice president of engineering, James Reggio, both live in the Seattle area, the spokesperson said. Anand spent more than six years at Meta before joining Brex in January 2022, when Brex raised a $300 million round.
Brex laid off 282 employees, or 20% of its staff, in January. In an interview with TechCrunch published Wednesday, Dubugras and Franceschi said the pair was ditching the co-CEO model, moving forward with Franceschi as CEO and Dubugras as board chair. The pair also said Brex doesn't plan to go public until 2025 or later.
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