

Scale AI closes the books 5 days faster with Brex.

Industry
Artificial intelligence
Company size
900+ employees
Brex products used
Brex business account, Corporate cards, Expense management, Global spend management
Accelerate expense management with Brex.
About Scale AI
Accelerating the development of AI apps
Scale AI is a fast-growing company on a mission to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence. They’ve built a data-centric solution for managing the entire machine learning lifecycle, providing training data to key AI players like OpenAI, Google, and Meta. Scale AI was founded in 2016 and graduated from Y Combinator’s Summer batch that year. Since then, it has grown to more than 900 employees across the country and globally.
Challenges
Disparate financial solutions that slow global growth
Starting with a team of four and a big dream to revolutionize AI, Scale AI wanted a one-stop shop for banking, corporate cards, and spend management that would help them grow their AI development startup quickly — and sustainably.
“As we scaled, we wanted to be able to enable employees to move fast and make decisions and not be blocked by length approval chains,” says Alexandr Wang, founder and CEO of Scale AI. The company sought a future-proof solution that would grow with them — supporting fast innovation and cost control whether they were operating in one market or expanding globally.
Solution
Business banking, cards, and expense management on one scalable platform
Scale chose Brex for a startup banking solution and corporate credit cards with no personal guarantee. With access to capital, the ability to send free ACH and wires worldwide, FDIC-insured deposits, and a five-star mobile app, Scale AI was able to spend and grow fast — upgrading to add spend management software that ensured speed while boosting control and accountability.
“What I love about Brex is that they recognize that companies get too bureaucratic as they get bigger and can’t do their best work,” Alexandr says. “Brex really solved that in building the platform, and Brex’s trust and verify model allows everyone to move quickly while giving the org the control it needs.”
Scale AI’s latest stage of growth involves scaling into new geographies. “We’ve been growing a lot internationally. Brex has really been an enabler because it’s a global platform,” Alexandr says.
Brex provides worldwide card acceptance on the Mastercard network and can issue local currency cards in 50+ countries. Brex also enables businesses to reimburse employees faster — in their local bank account and currency without going through payroll — giving global companies like Scale AI visibility into all their spending in a single system.
“We’ve been with Brex since our early startup days. They’ve helped us grow, and have grown with us.”
— Alexandr Wang, founder and CEO, Scale AI
Impact
30 hours saved monthly on expenses and 5 fewer days to close the books
“We’ve been with Brex since our early startup days. They’ve helped us grow, and have grown with us,” Alexandr says. With Brex’s additional spend management capabilities and accounting automation benefits, Scale AI has an end-to-end solution for global spending that drives efficiency and compliance.
“With Brex’s AI-powered platform, our employees and managers are saving 30 hours per month on manual expense management,” Alexandr says. “Brex automatically generates receipts and reminds employees whenever there’s something missing, reducing expense busywork org-wide and increasing our compliance.”
On the finance side, Brex enables Scale AI’s team to manage spending with pre-approved budgets and real-time alerts for out-of-policy transactions — ensuring responsible spending across all global entities. “We started with the Brex card and then added light budgeting. Now, we are using spend limits with flags for certain levels or kinds of spend,” says Alexandr. “Brex’s accounting automation solution saves our finance team 20 hours a month and enables us to close the books five days faster.”
The extra layers of approvals that once slowed Scale AI are no longer an issue. “Most people want to make the right decision for the company. Most people aren’t trying to go out of policy or do bad things. Brex is built on that,” says Alexandr.
By eliminating manual oversight and enabling real-time visibility, Scale AI can maintain momentum and strategic growth — even in volatile markets. Rather than policing expenses, the company has built a culture of financial discipline through automation. “Brex helps us stay creative in this market with insights and automation that drive strategic spend,” Alexandr says.