Henrique Dubugras
Born 1995 · Age 30
Brazilian entrepreneur and co-founder of Pagar.me and Brex. Started coding as a child, built payments business in Brazil, then co-founded Brex to reimagine corporate finance for startups.
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Life & Career Timeline
Started coding; created private Ragnarok servers
Began learning to code at age 12 to build/play games; created private servers for Ragnarok and monetized them.
Received patent-infringement notices and shut down game servers
Encountered legal notices related to the private game servers and was forced to shut them down — an early entrepreneurial/legal lesson.
Won a hackathon with AskMeOut; won BRL 50,000 prize
At a high school hackathon developed AskMeOut (dating-style app) and won the top prize of 50,000 Brazilian reais.
Raised early angel funding (~$300k) for early projects
According to interviews, connections after hackathons and early ventures led to about $300k in early investor funding when he was ~16.
Founded Estudar nos EUA (Study in the USA)
Launched Estudar nos EUA, an app/initiative to help Latin American students with US college applications; later grew to large user numbers but struggled to monetize.
Co-founded Pagar.me (payments platform)
With Pedro Franceschi co-founded Pagar.me, a payments processing company often described as the 'Stripe of Brazil'.
Pagar.me won Microsoft Spark Startup of the Year
Pagar.me was awarded Microsoft's Startup of the Year prize in the 2014 Spark Awards.
Selected as a Fundação Estudar Fellow
Approved as a Fellow in Fundação Estudar's selective undergraduate scholarship/fellow program.
Processed ~$1.5B GMV at Pagar.me (milestone)
Pagar.me achieved ~ $1.5 billion in gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2016 and had over 100 employees prior to sale.
Moved to Silicon Valley; enrolled at Stanford University
After selling Pagar.me the founders moved to the U.S. and enrolled at Stanford to study computer science.
Pagar.me sold to StoneCo
After rapid growth (processing ~$1.5B GMV in 2016 and staffing 100+), Pagar.me was sold to StoneCo in September 2016; company had previously raised ~ $30M.
Founded Brex (corporate credit card for startups)
Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi founded Brex to provide corporate cards and financial services tailored to startups, removing the need for personal guarantees.
Joined Y Combinator / early YC support
Brex and the founders participated in/received support from Y Combinator as they built out the business.
Brex reached unicorn status (valuation > $1B)
Within months of launching its product, Brex reached unicorn status (>$1 billion valuation) owing to rapid adoption in the startup ecosystem.
Brex product launch: corporate card went live
Brex launched its card product (interest‑free corporate charge cards for startups) and began onboarding customers; product emphasized no personal guarantees, instant approvals, and startup‑tailored rewards.
Featured: Nasdaq 'Faces of Entrepreneurship' (interview/profile)
Profiled in Nasdaq's 'Faces of Entrepreneurship' series; public profile increasing with Brex's growth.
Brex featured on Forbes '30 Under 30: Finance'
Henrique and cofounder Pedro Franceschi were featured on Forbes' 2019 '30 Under 30: Finance' list.
Brex had raised ~$215–220M in early rounds
By ~2019 Brex had raised approximately $215M–$220M across early seed/Series rounds from investors including Ribbit, DST, SV Angel, Peter Thiel, Max Levchin and others.
Forbes profile: company valued at ~$1.1B; press coverage
Forbes published a feature on Dubugras noting Brex as a ~$1.1B company and detailing his rapid trajectory.
Brex valuation growth to ~$2.75B (reported)
Reports referenced Brex fetching a ~$2.75 billion valuation (reported in press around 2020/2021 timeframe).
Joined boards and advisory roles (reported)
Media sources report Dubugras sits on boards (or has roles) for companies including MercadoLibre and Expedia Group and volunteers/advises Instituto Alpha Lumen.
Sought regulatory permission to open a bank (Brex)
Brex filed / sought permission from federal regulators to open its own bank (reported in early 2021 coverage).
Brex headcount ~500; announced remote-first policy
Around 2021 Brex reported ~500 employees and announced plans to keep remote-work as a long-term arrangement, with a few offices.
Public interview: dot.LA Strategy Session; announced LA move
In a dot.LA interview Henrique said he moved to Los Angeles with cofounder and girlfriend; discussed remote-first policy and company plans (offices, remote culture).
Brex valuation reported at $12.3B
Press reports (and company disclosures) cited a Brex valuation of about $12.3 billion (by Jan 2022 / reported 2022–2023).
Named on Forbes Billionaires list / called a self‑made billionaire (reported)
Media reported that Henrique (and cofounder) became some of the youngest self-made billionaires as Brex's valuation climbed (coverage cites Forbes 2022 mentions).
Expanded Brex from card provider to financial platform (product milestone)
Brex evolved product offerings beyond the corporate card into a broader cash management and financial platform for startups and enterprises.
Brex total capital raised exceeded ~$1.2B (cumulative)
By 2023 Brex had reportedly raised over $1.2 billion in total funding and was processing billions in transactions annually across a diverse customer base.
Evolved Brex co‑CEO model (company leadership change)
Brex published commentary about evolving its co‑CEO leadership model to better play to the founders' strengths (timing reported as 'recent' in company posts).
Active angel investor and board member (portfolio disclosures)
Publicly disclosed angel investments and board/observer roles include investments in startups such as NG.CASH, Superhuman, Mutiny, and others (dates vary).
Founder profile published (Frederick.ai blog: 'Founder Story: Henrique Dubugras of Brex')
A founder profile summarizing Dubugras' journey and Brex's achievements was published (Frederick.ai blog, Feb 9, 2025), reiterating Brex valuation and funding milestones.
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