Henrique Dubugras

After stepping down as Brex co-CEO in June 2024, announced plans to build "the most AI-native investment team on Earth" for a new stealth startup, hiring across credit, fixed income, real estate, derivatives, equities, and quantitative infrastructure. The approach aligns with broader tech trend of reducing headcount while increasing AI investment. Signaled belief that AI reduces needed workers while increasing intensity expected from those remaining.

Brex cut 20% of staff (282 employees) in January 2024 after an earlier 11% cut (136 people) in October 2022. Co-CEO Pedro Franceschi said company "grew too quickly and created too many layers of management." Laid-off employees received eight weeks severance plus two weeks per year of service, six months subsidized COBRA coverage including mental health, and waived one-year equity cliff. The Information reported Brex burned $17M monthly in Q4 2023.

The January 2024 Brex layoffs drew criticism for execution: employees learned about the meeting 30 minutes before, with engineering managers knowing in advance. One employee described: "They announce like 1/2 hr before that there is a meeting in 1/2 hr and then they do layoffs. They send out emails at the beginning of the meeting indicating if you're laid off or not." Reviews describe "layoff anxiety" as the most common negative theme, taking months to dissipate.