Meet Stanford University Dropouts Who Made $860 Million Fortune

In the last 2 decades, we have witnessed several inspiring experiments, which broke the conventional practice of professionalism. From Mark Zuckerberg to Jack Ma, they all have proved that anything is possible; at any age, with any product, one can reach the zenith. They have also inspired many to break the stereotype to follow their heart. 

Such is the story of two Stanford University dropouts, 23-year-old Henrique Dubugras and 22-year-old Pedro Franceschi who didn’t even complete a single year in college but have already amassed a handsome share of the Silicon Valley experience. Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi are the founders and top executives of a fintech startup named Brex Inc. which is recently valued at $2.6 billion. 

Dubugras was just 14 years old when he started his first company, which is the maker of an online video game but had to shut it down after he started getting patent infringement notices from authorities. Soon after, he joined Franceschi for another venture, a payment processor called Pagar.me, which grew into a 150 employees company, before they sold it in the year 2016. 

The young pair in their teens then enrolled at Stanford University but didn’t able to make it through freshman year and before dropping out to found Brex.

Brex launched its first product last year and soon become a fintech favorite in the Silicon Valley, catapulting its founders into the ranks of the richest entrepreneurs. According to an analysis by Equity Zen, which keeps the records of the shares of tech firms that have not yet gone public, Dubugras and Franceschi stakes in the company are worth an estimated $430 million each. The duos ascent is very rapid even by the Silicon Valley standards, where dropping out of Stanford to launch a startup is something, which is beyond someone’s imagination. 

Brex, the company that is founded two years ago, has now become one of the fastest growing American companies ever to reach a multibillion-dollar valuation, thus joining the ranks of startups like Uber Technologies Inc. Bird Rides Inc. etc.

In the year 2017, Brex was valued at $25 million. Its latest funding round has increased its valuation to more than $2 billion. The key product of the company is a credit card for the startups and their employees that depends on the real-time data, rather than traditional credit scores. One of the drivers of Brex’s increasing valuation is its potential to expand with other businesses, say the founders.

The company has recently introduced credit cards for e-commerce and life sciences companies. Along with the cards for startups, Brex now has plans that will cater to the larger firms, offering cards with rewards and expense management.

Another fintech youngster, Max Levchin, who at the age of 23 years co-founded a company that eventually becomes PayPal Holdings Inc. a few years back. PayPal is now an investor in Brex, along with Peter Thiel, also a PayPal co-founder, as well as the Ribbit Capital and Kleiner Perkins Digital Growth Fund.