In 2018, Brex made a defining decision: rather than rely on middleware providers like Stripe or Marqeta, it built its own payments infrastructure from the ground up. That move, Ben Gammell tells us, gave the company a direct integration with MasterCard and the ability to issue corporate cards in “over 50 plus local currencies.” The choice, he explains, was born of necessity at the time but has since become a structural advantage, offering customers greater control and global reach.
That same principle of intentional investment extends to Brex’s software strategy. The company designs its expense management platform to meet the demands of sophisticated, high-growth businesses such as Arm and Anthropic. The result, Gammell tells us, is a solution that not only competes with legacy providers like Concur but also improves accessibility for smaller firms “with aspirations of being the next DoorDash or Coinbase.”
Partnerships further expand the ecosystem. Because Brex controls its processing stack internally, it can integrate with best-of-breed solutions—Navan in travel, Zip and Coupa in procurement—delivering the breadth that global enterprises require while keeping Brex at the center of the transaction.
Looking outward, the company recently began expanding into Europe. Gammell tells us the first priority is to better serve U.S. multinationals with operations abroad. Only later will Brex pursue wholly foreign clients. Still, he emphasizes discipline: the U.S. remains “the largest market by a country mile,” and maintaining focus there is key to balancing growth ambitions with profitability and investor confidence.
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CFOTL: So tell us about Brex today. It’s well known as a corporate spend platform—but what sets it apart?
Gammell: I see three things that really differentiate us in a very large market. First, our proprietary global payments infrastructure. Back in 2018, Brex chose to build its own issuing stack rather than rely on a Stripe or a marketer as middleware. At the time it was partly necessity, but it’s given us greater control and flexibility in our global product—e.g., direct integration with MasterCard lets customers issue corporate cards that work in 50+ local currencies, which you can’t replicate if you’re constrained by third-party offerings. Second, our expense management software is deliberately AI-native and built “top-down”: we focus on the most complex, sophisticated companies—think Arm, Anthropic—to ensure we can stand up to solutions like Concur alongside our global capabilities.
Those investments then trickle down into a simpler, easier experience for smaller companies that aspire to be the next DoorDash or Coinbase. Third, because we built payments processing internally, we can create a differentiated partner ecosystem with best-of-breed adjacent software. For example, we partner with Navan on travel and, more recently, with Zip and Cooper on procurement. Large multinationals want to use the stacks that best fit their needs; as long as Brex is powering the card and payments, we can deliver a great solution. A lot of this reflects more intentional thinking since our 2021 heyday: decide when to build, when to buy, and when to partner—double down where Brex has a durable advantage, and partner when that better serves the customer.
CFOTL: Brex( is) expanding in Europe—we saw headlines last month. How will you balance growth in new markets with the need to build profitability and investor confidence at home?
Gammell: Our initial UK/EU push is about better serving predominantly U.S.-based customers by extending our own infrastructure and processing capabilities into those markets—that’s core to our offering. Phase two is serving wholly foreign companies on Brex once we’ve proven that foundation. The balancing act is real: the U.S. remains by far the largest corporate card market, so focus matters. The U.S. is still our primary objective and growth avenue. If global expansion helps us support U.S. multinationals—and we can efficiently onboard qualified overseas companies—we’ll pursue it in phases… but we’ll stay intentional about focus and capital discipline.
Brex | www.brex.com | Salt Lake City, UT