Fintech firm Brex cuts 20% of jobs in restructuring exercise

San Francisco: US-based fintech company Brex has laid off about 20 per cent of its workforce, or 282 employees, in a restructuring exercise.

“Today we’re restructuring Brex to become a high-velocity company. Sadly as part of those changes, 282 people (roughly 20 per cent of the company) will be leaving Brex today,” Brex Founder and co-CEO Pedro Franceschi said in a message to employees on Tuesday.

Explaining the reason behind the decision to reduce the workforce, Franceschi said while the company’s spend management solutions have a “massive opportunity ahead,” the Brex organisation had grown too quickly and was not operating as quickly as it had in the past.

“Looking inward, I realised we grew our org too quickly, making it harder to move at the speed we once did. 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,” he wrote.

The impacted employees will receive eight weeks of severance, with two additional weeks of pay for each additional year of service, waiver of the one-year equity cliff for those who haven’t reached theirs yet, and outplacement support for job search assistance.

The laid-off workers will be able to keep their laptops to assist with the transition, the company said.

In 2022, Brex laid off 136 employees, or 11 per cent of its workforce, across all departments as part of a restructuring.