Capital One said Thursday that it will acquire payments startup Brex for $5.15 billion, marking the latest major acquisition led by chief executive Richard Fairbank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The bank disclosed the transaction in its fourth-quarter earnings statement, saying it would fund the purchase with a mix of 50% cash and 50% stock. Brex was previously valued at $12.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capital One shares fell about 3% following the announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fairbank, one of the few founder-led CEOs at a major U.S. bank, said the deal aligns with Capital One\u2019s long-term ambition to build a technology-driven payments platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAcquiring Brex accelerates this journey, especially in the business payments marketplace,\u201d Fairbank said, highlighting Brex\u2019s integrated approach to corporate cards, banking and spend management software.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that Brex successfully built a vertically integrated platform spanning the full technology stack, a rare achievement in the fintech sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The acquisition reflects the challenges faced by fintech companies as higher interest rates reshape the industry. Brex\u2019s valuation has fallen by more than 50% since its 2023 peak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially known for offering credit cards and lending solutions to startups, Brex has since expanded its client base to include larger, more established companies across multiple industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Capital One, which has offered business credit cards for decades, determined that Brex\u2019s operating model could represent the future of business payments, according to a source familiar with the strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brex CEO Pedro Franceschi said the company did not need to pursue a sale, noting that growth remained strong. However, he said combining Brex\u2019s technology with Capital One\u2019s scale and resources would allow the platform to expand more rapidly than it could independently.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Deal details and market reaction Capital One said Thursday that it will acquire payments startup Brex for $5.15 billion, marking the latest major acquisition led by chief executive Richard Fairbank. The bank disclosed the transaction in its fourth-quarter earnings statement, saying it would fund the purchase with a mix of 50% cash and 50% stock. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10772,"featured_media":13292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[3209,3207,3213,2807,3211,106,3208,3214,3212,3210],"class_list":{"0":"post-13291","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-banking-software","9":"tag-brex-acquisition","10":"tag-business-credit-cards","11":"tag-capital-one","12":"tag-corporate-payments","13":"tag-financial-services","14":"tag-fintech-merger","15":"tag-fintech-valuation","16":"tag-ma-banking","17":"tag-payments-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13291"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13293,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13291\/revisions\/13293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetimesfinancial.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}