Expense management company and neobank Brex announced today it will lay off 282 employees, roughly 20% of its workforce. 

The move will help Brex become “a high-velocity company” that is “leaner, faster and closer to customers,” Brex founder and co-chief executive Pedro Franceschi said in a release.

“I realized we grew our org too quickly, making it harder to move at the speed we once did,” Franceschi said. “This year, we decided to take a hard look at our current structure and reduce the number of layers between leaders and the actual work that affects customers,” which resulted in today’s layoffs, he said. 

As part of restructuring, the company is also:  

• Emphasizing long-term thinking and ownership over short-term gains; 
• Changing its operating model; and 
• Expanding on financial improvements from 2023. 

Growing operations, shrinking workforce 

According to the release, one-third of startups in the United States are Brex customers and, in 2023, the company’s gross profit grew by more than 75%. The company rolled out multiple solutions in 2023, including:  

• An AI virtual assistant, called Brex Assistant, which helps streamline expense report filing by corporate clients; 
• An AI-driven accounts payable program which helps business clients manage budgets. 

The restructuring will help the company surpass last year’s gross profit benchmark and achieve “profitability and independence,” Franceschi said. 

Brex saw its business grow after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March 2023. That May, Bloomberg reported that Brex was on track to surpass $500 million in annual revenue by May 2024, an increase of about 50% year over year. 

Restructuring is also happening at the executive level, as Chief Operating Officer Michael Tannenbaum becomes a board member and Camilla Morais, senior vice president of global operations, becomes COO. 

Last month, Brex announced that Karandeep Anand will serve as the company’s first president and chief product officer to help Brex scale its platform and serve global companies. 

Major financial institutions are also executing restructuring plans, with Citi declaring that it aims to lay off nearly 10% or 20,000 employees through 2026. In November, Scotiabank also announced that it aims to reduce its headcount and branch footprint as part of its restructuring initiatives to pull back on costs. 

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