Brex Sale: A Good Outcome or Not So Much?

Ten days after the announcement, the Brex sale to Capital One for $5.15B has generated a flood of coverage. It now stands as the largest exit ever for a startup founded by Brazilians — many congratulations.

A billion-plus exit is, of course, a clear win for early investors, and that point hardly needs elaboration. The more interesting question is a broader one: from an overall investor perspective, was the Brex sale actually a good outcome — or not such a good one?

Since its founding in 2017, Brex raised $1.25B in equity. The $5.15B exit therefore represents a 4.14x return on invested equity, excluding debt. We believe this metric — exit value relative to invested equity — provides a clear lens on the efficacy of the capital deployed.

By contrast, in a recent M&A exit from Fund II (March 2025), Egnyte had raised $138M and was acquired for $1.4B, representing a 10.1x return on equity.

Netskope, another portfolio company, went public in September 2025 with a $7.3B market capitalization after raising $1.05B, implying a 7.0x return on invested equity.

The examples go on — both up and down.

The picture becomes more nuanced once liquidation preferences are taken into account. In its final funding round in November 2021 (Series D-2), Brex raised $300M at a $12.3B valuation. The prior round, in April 2021 (Series D), raised $480M at a $7.78B valuation — both above the eventual sale price. As a result, Series D and D-2 investors are entitled to exercise their liquidation preferences and recover up to $780M. Against this backdrop, the remaining value available for distribution to prior-round investors is $4.37B.

Conclusion

Fabrica Ventures invested in Brex in November 2023 at a discount of nearly 70% to the last round. As a result, and after accounting for waterfall preferences, our expected return should land in the low double digits.

That is precisely the virtue of diversification within a fund (structured under a European waterfall). Sometimes you score a golaço; other times, a scrappy belly goal (pictured above). In investing, as in soccer, aesthetics matter less than putting the ball in the net.

Once again, congratulations to Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi!