Capital One to Acquire Brex

WHY THIS MATTERS: The convergence of traditional banking scale and agile software development has been accelerated by this blockbuster M&A. Capital One’s strategic move to acquire Brex, a pioneer in integrated financial services, signals a critical shift in the competitive landscape for business-to-business payments. This is not just a high-value exit for a fintech; it’s an emphatic endorsement of the vertically integrated model, where corporate cards, expense management, and business banking are unified on one AI-native platform.

The acquisition positions a major incumbent to rapidly scale its B2B offering by leveraging Brex’s software-first approach. For other financial institutions, this transaction serves as a clear value-signal: the future of commercial finance lies in embedded finance—where tools are woven directly into the business workflow—and that competitive pressure is now accelerating across the mainstream corporate market. The value for the customer is in automation and efficiency, making this deal highly relevant today.

Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Brex, in a combination of stock and cash transaction valued at $5.15 billion.

Brex is a modern, AI-native software platform offering intelligent finance solutions that make it easy for businesses to issue corporate cards, automate expense management and make secure, real-time payments. The company also leverages AI agents to help customers automate complex workflows to reduce manual review and control spend.

”Since our founding, we set out to build a payments company at the frontier of the technology revolution,” said Richard D. Fairbank, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Capital One. “Acquiring Brex accelerates this journey, especially in the business payments marketplace.”

“Brex invented the integrated combination of corporate credit cards, spend management software and banking together in a single platform. They have taken the rarest of journeys for a fintech, building a vertically integrated platform from the bottom of the tech stack to the top,” added Fairbank.

“We started Brex in 2017 as a category creator – bringing together financial services and software into one AI-native platform,” said Pedro Franceschi, Founder and CEO of Brex. “Now we get to supercharge our next chapter in partnership with the team at Capital One. Together, we’ll maximize founder mode by combining Brex’s payments expertise and spend management software with Capital One’s massive scale, sophisticated underwriting, and compelling brand to accelerate growth and increase the speed at which we can offer better finance solutions to the millions of businesses in the U.S. mainstream economy.”

Upon completion of the transaction, Franceschi will continue to lead Brex as part of Capital One.

The transaction is expected to close in the middle of calendar year 2026, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. BofA Securities served as financial advisor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisor to Capital One, with Baker McKenzie providing counsel on certain foreign legal matters to Capital One. Centerview Partners LLC served as financial advisor and Wilson Sonsini, Simpson Thatcher and Skadden Arps served as legal advisors to Brex.

FF NEWS TAKE:This acquisition is undoubtedly a major needle-mover, validating the disruptive power of AI-native fintechs in the corporate finance space. The integration of Brex’s agile software stack with Capital One’s massive balance sheet and underwriting expertise creates a formidable new competitor in spend management. The key to watch is how quickly Capital One can scale Brex’s technology beyond the startup market and into the broader U.S. commercial segment, particularly their development and deployment of AI-driven automation agents. This is where the long-term industry impact will be measured.