AI Strategy: Why Does Capital One Want to Acquire Brex?

Capital One expects to close its acquisition of finserv firm Brex in mid-2026 if the customary closing conditions are met satisfactorily. 

Brex is a company that offers intelligent finance solutions to clients through its AI-native software platform. 

The payments giant will utilise Brex’s integrated software to further its position as a tech-first company. The acquisition will build on Capital One’s already-strong position in the business payments marketplace.

What does Brex’s software do? 

Brex's software is versatile, enabling businesses to issue corporate cards and make real-time, secure payments. 

Its platform also assists with the automation of expense management. Its AI agents also help customers to automate complex workflows – reducing manual review and empowering spend control. 

Pedro Franceschi, Founder and CEO of Brex says: “We started Brex in 2017 as a category creator – bringing together financial services and software into one AI-native platform. 

“Now we get to supercharge our next chapter in partnership with the team at Capital One. 

“Together, we’ll maximise 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 US mainstream economy.”

Pedro will continue to lead Brex after the acquisition. 

How will CapitalOne use the new stack?

Capital One has US$47.8bn in deposits and US$669bn in total assets as of the end of 2025. 

The US-based payment provider delivers a broad range of products and shopping experiences through its credit card and commercial banking lines of business. 

Richard D. Fairbank, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Capital One notes: “Since our founding, we set out to build a payments company at the frontier of the technology revolution. 

“Acquiring Brex accelerates this journey, especially in the business payments marketplace.”

Financial advisors to CapitalOne included the Bank of America Securities, while Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisors. 

Richard continues: “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.”

Capital One is the only major US bank to migrate entirely to the public cloud. It uses proprietary data and advanced analytics to further its mission of increasing accessibility to financial tools across the US, Canada and the UK. 

Capital One: Which strategy works best? 

The acquisition comes months after Capital One appointed Natalie Kelly as its Chief Risk Officer. Natalie has over 25 years of experience in the digital payments landscape.

Her appointment demonstrated Capital One’s responsible business growth. 

Capital One continues to gradually strengthen its strategy of growth by acquisition following its merger with Discover Financial Services in February 2025. 

The merger consolidated two significant credit card issuers in the US market, where ten companies control 90% of credit card volume. 

Richard said at the time: “Through this combination, we're creating a company exceptionally well-positioned in the future of digital payments.”