Just over one year ago, spend management decacorn Brex declared that it was “less suited to meet the needs of smaller customers” in an announcement that caused shock waves in the startup community.
While Brex soon clarified that by smaller customers it meant small to medium-sized businesses and non-funded startups, the move still felt like a stunning reversal, considering the company had started its life as a credit card company for startups. The announcement came about two months after Brex announced a “big push into software” and that it was placing greater emphasis on moving upmarket to serve larger, enterprise customers.
But then in March, Silicon Valley Bank imploded.
Brex was one of the bidders for the early-stage and growth portfolios of the bank, which was known for providing a swath of financial services to the startup community. Ultimately, First Citizens Bank took over, but some of those former clients shunned the idea of working with such a large bank and opted to move their accounts to fintechs such as Brex, Mercury and Arc. While Brex declined to share spec …
