FinAi News

No products in the cart.

Subscribe
  • News
  • AI News Tool
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Banking
  • Lending
  • Payments
  • Risk & Security
  • Strategy
FinAi News
  • News
  • AI News Tool
  • Data
  • Transactions
  • Events
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • Podcast
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
BAN PLUS
Log In
No Result
View All Result
FinAi News
No Result
View All Result

JPMorgan Looks to Court Fast-Growing Startups As Brex Goes Upmarket

Jake MartinbyJake Martin
March 18, 2019
in Banking, Risk & Security
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
Share on Facebook

JPMorgan Chase & Co. plans to merge its middle-market technology and emerging growth commercial banking teams to better serve fast-growing startups, Reuters reported last week.

The resulting technology and disruptive commerce industry group will zero in on startups specializing in software, semiconductors, food, health and wellness, lifestyle, and pet products. JPMorgan will use this new group to sell small to mid-market companies treasury, payments, credit and financing services, as well as mergers and acquisitions advice.

But what could this mean for a company like credit card startup Brex, which has targeted young, high-growth businesses that have largely been underserved by the big banks? As the nation’s largest bank by assets looks to gain footing with startups, the San Francisco-based unicorn is looking upmarket to reel in larger, more traditional companies.

Henrique Dubugras, co-founder and CEO of Brex, recently told Bank Innovation that the startups and budding e-commerce firms his company has targeted are meant to stay with Brex as they grow. “A big part of our value proposition is that you can start with Brex and you can scale with Brex,” he added.

Asked where Brex is most innovative, considering its main offerings are plastic products, Dubugras said the company is trying to take a new approach and disrupt in an area where there has been relatively little movement.

“Corporate cards are a huge market, globally and in the U.S.,” he said. “The same thing that Stripe did for acquiring online, Square did for acquiring offline, and Robinhood did for consumer trading, we want to do for corporate credit cards.”

Dubugras said Brex’s current e-commerce customers usually spend about 10% of their revenue on their cards. With annual transaction volumes north of $500 billion for U.S. e-commerce in recent years, he said it’s safe to assume at least $50 billion is spent annually on the corporate cards of e-commerce firms. This illustrates the opportunity for Brex and other startups, but also for banks that are able to pivot and cater to those businesses.

“The problem with startups is that they go out of business a lot,” Dubugras said. “We’ve had hundreds of startups go out of business and we still haven’t lost one single dollar. And the reason for that is, we know when they’re going to go out of business before they even do because we’re monitoring everything, so we can talk to them and help them transition out before that happens.”

When it comes to underwriting startups and e-commerce firms, his company monitors metrics like cash balances and sales volumes on a daily basis to determine if a company is healthy or not. He said this allows Brex to provide credit with no personal guarantees and higher limits, and to underwrite faster than everyone else.

Dubugras said banks, on the other hand, typically underwrite for credit cards by looking at financial history to try to predict financial health and behavior for an entire year at a time. The results can be the need for personal guarantees, lower limits and long wait times for a determination, which he said just aren’t compatible with the needs of fast-growing companies.

The main difference is technology, he said.

“The way the banks’ systems are built is that an analyst goes and looks at the data and then reports back and says, ‘Hey, this is the credit limit for next year,'” Dubugras said. “To actually change your entire underwriting paradigm and say, ‘Hey, now we’re not going to underwrite once; we’re going to underwrite every day,’ is a very, very big fundamental change for these banks. And their technology doesn’t allow for it.”

He said Brex, in the meantime, built its platform from scratch, giving it the flexibility to serve companies small and large, and everything in between.

Tags: Brexe-commerceExclusiveJPMorgan ChasePremiumRobinhoodSales & MarketingSquarestartupsStripe
Previous Post

Some Credit Unions Turn to Blockchain to Improve Customer Experience

Next Post

Instagram Gets Into E-Commerce Business With Checkout Tool

Related Posts

Photo credit Mike Mozart: https://www.flickr.com/photos/39160147@N03/14742853276/
Banking

Charles Schwab launches 2 AI tools in Q2

July 21, 2026
data streams being bottlenecked
Risk & Security

Implementing AI can relieve bottlenecks amid growing AML complexity

July 20, 2026
A flag displaying Capital One's logo
Risk & Security

Capital One’s Evan Baker to speak at FinAi Lending Summit

July 20, 2026
Next Post
An employee walks past branded posters displayed at the Instagram Inc. office in New York, U.S., on Monday, June 4, 2018. Once, Instagram was a simple photo-sharing app, a way for iPhone shutterbugs to show off their latest cool pics. Now, its visual nature and 1 billion active users have sellers salivating over its potential as a place to sell everything from dresses to furniture. Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

Instagram Gets Into E-Commerce Business With Checkout Tool

EMERGING FINTECH DIRECTORY

Emerging Fintech Directory

The Buzz Podcast

SPONSORED

Build an Antifragile Strategy to Outperform the Market

July 14, 2026

How AI and Product Experts Turn Fuzzy Requirements Into Focused Dev-ready Roadmaps

April 19, 2026

Is Your Technology Supplier There for You?

April 1, 2026

  • About Us
  • Help Center
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Terms
  • ADA Compliance
  • Advertise

 [wt_cli_manage_consent]

Connect

twitter linkedin podcast podcast podcast
© 2026 Royal Media
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • Banking
    • Lending
    • Payments
    • Risk & Security
    • Strategy
  • AI News Tool [Beta]
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Unlock This Article

Create your free FinAi News account to access this article and stay informed on how AI is transforming financial services including banking, lending, payments, and risk.

Yes, I'd like to receive FinAi News updates, breaking news, and exclusive AI insights for financial services leaders.

Continue Reading with FinAi News Premium - Less than $2/Day

Upgrade to FinAi News Premium for unlimited access to news, insights, trends, and intelligence on how AI is transforming financial services including banking, lending, payments, and risk.
Upgrade to FinAi News Premium Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • NEWS
    • All News
    • Banking
    • Lending
    • Payments
    • Risk & Security
    • Strategy
  • AI News Tool [Beta]
  • DATA
  • TRANSACTIONS
  • EVENTS
    • FinAi Banking Summit
    • FinAi Lending Summit
  • PODCAST
  • WEBINARS
    • Webinar Library
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • Log In / Account