Pedro Franceschi
Background
Pedro Franceschi was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and was a prodigy programmer who jailbroke an iPhone 3G at age 12 and built the first Brazilian Portuguese Siri alternative. At age 16, alongside Henrique Dubugras, he co-founded Brazilian payment processor Pagar.me, scaling it to over $1.5 billion in annual volume before selling it to Stone in 2016.
Role at Brex Inc.
Pedro Franceschi is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Brex Inc. After entering Stanford University in 2016, Franceschi and Dubugras dropped out within months to join Y Combinator (W17). Initially attempting to build a virtual reality headset startup, Franceschi pivoted to create Brex after realizing how difficult it was for international founders to obtain a US corporate credit card. A master software architect, Franceschi authored Brex's core payment processing systems and designed the multi-currency Empower spend management platform. In 2024, Franceschi assumed sole CEO leadership, steering Brex past $300 million in annual recurring revenue with disciplined operational excellence. Franceschi's extraordinary systems engineering mastery was the technological engine that made Brex possible. An elite programmer who jailbroke iPhones as a child and built Brazil's premier payment gateway before age twenty, Franceschi authored Brex's core payment processing systems, built the real-time cash risk models, and designed the multi-currency Empower spend management platform. In 2024, Franceschi assumed sole CEO leadership, steering Brex past $300M ARR with disciplined operational excellence.