Latest news with #Franceschi
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
You Me At Six frontman left without ‘words' after band's final gig
You Me At Six frontman Josh Franceschi said he has been left without 'words' after his band played what has been billed as their final gig. On Friday, they ended their more than 20-year career with a show at London's OVO Arena Wembley. The band, from Surrey, formed in the mid-2000s and are known for their catchy rock tunes including hits Suckapunch, Save It For The Bedroom, Truth Decay, Bite My Tongue, Night People, Sinners Never Sleep and Cavalier Youth. View this post on Instagram A post shared by You Me At Six (@youmeatsixofficial) On Saturday, Franceschi wrote on X: 'When I have the words, I'll tell you how I feel.' Their farewell tour during 2024 and 2025 ended at Wembley where Franceschi reportedly said that he rallied to get on stage despite having 'norovirus'. He said: 'I've either been throwing up or shitting. Trust me, this is far from perfect but I will die on this stage before I cancel a show. I was watching you all queue up from my hotel room earlier going, 'Wow'.' View this post on Instagram A post shared by You Me At Six (@youmeatsixofficial) Social media views showed Franceschi ending their last gig saying this is the 'true'story of 'useless c**** doing something good with their lives'. He added: 'It has been an honour being your band for the last 20 years, thank you for inviting us into your homes, your headphones, your hearts, and there is only one thing left to say – please stand for your national anthem, Underdog.' They all then hugged on stage, bowing as the audience clapped and screamed. Dropping the mic in the final moments, Franceschi said: 'And just like that, we are dead, see ya later.' The group, also made up of guitarists Max Helyer and Chris Miller, bassist Matt Barnes and drummer Daniel Flint, have had two number one albums – Cavalier Youth in 2014 and Suckapunch in 2021. The 2018 album VI, and 2023 record Truth Decay have also charted in the top 10 Official Charts. Franceschi has previously spoken of how he became depressed around 2017 in part due to the intensity of heavy touring across more than a decade, telling the PA news agency he credited boxer Tyson Fury with helping him. In 2021, he said: '(Tyson) came back to me with a revelation because he was this champion of the world, this heavyweight boxer, and was exposing himself and letting people know how vulnerable he is, but saying, 'I'm not going to let this defeat me'. It was so empowering.'
Yahoo
25-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fintech Brex Eyes $500 Million in 2025 Revenue as IPO Mulled
(Bloomberg) -- Brex, one of several financial-technology startups that's considering an initial-public offering, wants to make sure it's ready to present investors with a predictable business before it decides on pursuing an IPO, according to Chief Executive Officer Pedro Franceschi. Trump Targets $128 Billion California High-Speed Rail Project Trump Asserts Power Over NYC, Proclaims 'Long Live the King' NYC's Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month Airbnb Billionaire Offers Pre-Fab Homes for LA Fire Victims As Visitors Discover Ghent, the City Is Trying to Prevent a Tourism Takeover 'It's easy to go public, it's hard to be a public company with low volatility and very high predictability in the business,' Franceschi said in an interview, adding that Brex plans to be cash-flow positive by the middle of this year. 'Predictability is crucial and we want to get really great at that over the next few years.' Brex, founded by Franceschi and fellow Y Combinator alum Henrique Dubugras, received $1.5 billion of the venture funding that flowed into the fintech sector during the period of low interest rates following the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The company offers corporate cards, business bank accounts and expense management software. Brex earns money through swipe fees, deposit interest, foreign-exchange conversions and software subscriptions. The company expects its annual net revenue to reach $500 million in 2025, according to a person familiar with the company's operations who asked not to be named discussing internal projections. At its peak in January 2022, Brex secured a $12.3 billion valuation as it charted a course to take market share from incumbent financial firms including American Express Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. It also competes closely against fellow fintechs Ramp and Mercury, which have similar product offerings. Ramp won a $7.65 billion valuation in April 2024 and Mercury is in talks to secure new funding valuing it at over $3 billion. Private market research firm Sacra estimates Ramp's annual net revenue run rate hit $648 million by year end 2024 and that Mercury reached $500 million in annual net revenue run rate the same year. As interest rates rose through 2023, Brex hit a rough patch. Its startup-heavy client base suffered as venture funding slowed and pressure to reach profitability mounted. As its startup clients cut back on spending, Brex's fee revenue from card swipes took a hit while it still needed to support a roughly 1,400-person staff. In the fourth quarter of 2023, the business was burning an average of $17 million a month, The Information reported. These days, Brex's cash burn is down 82% year-over-year, Franceschi said. This comes after the company reduced headcount significantly. Brex currently has about 1,100 employees, down 21% from the end of 2023. 'The reality is the company gets bigger and all these layers of management, all these processes, all these metrics, and it's easy to forget what actually creates value for the customer,' Franceschi said. 'Basically, what we did is get rid of two layers of management entirely and we brought leaders closer to the model, closer to the customer, and we narrowed down our scope to do fewer things.' In addition to cutting spending, the startup increased its focus on winning clients, including artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic, investing app Robinhood and audio-technology company Sonos. Its enterprise business segment saw a net revenue increase of 80% in 2024, according to the company. (Adds revenue estimates in the fifth paragraph.) Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America Meet Seven of America's Top Personal Finance Influencers Why Private Equity Is Eyeing Your Nest Egg Can Dr. Phil's Streaming Makeover Find an Audience in the MAGA Era? How Med Spas Conquered America ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
