Expensify CEO Aims for ‘AI Supremacy’ in FinTech
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping the FinTech landscape, and according to Expensify’s executives, the company is poised to lead the charge. During the company’s fourth quarter and full-year 2024 earnings call on Thursday, February 27, 2025, Founder and CEO David Barrett emphasized Expensify’s deep integration of AI to drive financial performance and customer experience.
While the company missed Wall Street’s consensus estimates for the quarter, its stock experienced a boost during after-hours trading. Expensify generated $23.9 million in Operating Cash Flow and $23.9 million in free cash flow for the fiscal year 2024, exceeding its expectations. Quarterly revenue also saw a 5% increase from Q3. Furthermore, Expensify successfully paid off $22.7 million in debt, making the business debt-free.
“These results weren’t easy, and are the early results of our integration of ‘deep AI’ — not surface level, gimmicky features, but AI applied to complex systems that have previously required large teams of human agents,” Barrett stated during the investor call.
AI Innovations Drive Efficiency
AI is becoming a crucial tool in the FinTech sector, surpassing the role of FinTech itself. Companies are using AI for fraud detection, customer support, and process automation.
Barrett highlighted Expensify’s advancements in AI as critical to its positive performance. By embedding “deep AI” within its core systems, the company made notable efficiency gains. These gains have optimized costs, enhanced customer experience, and increased internal productivity.
“Granted, it’s tough to talk about AI because it is so cliche and noisy, with everyone clamoring to outdo each other with ever more grandiose claims. It’s hard to say anything without earning eye rolls in return. But make no mistake: Expensify is gunning for AI supremacy in FinTech. And I think we are better positioned than any competitor to achieve it,” Barrett confidently asserted.
The company has expanded its AI-powered enterprise client partnership with OpenAI, enabling 80% of Tier 1 support through automated responses. The upgraded hybrid-AI Concierge system has reduced human escalations, allowing the team to focus on proactive customer engagement.
Expensify’s SmartScan process leverages AI to deliver faster, more accurate scans across more languages and complex formats, at 25% of the previous cost, with minimal human intervention.
“We are evaluating the transcripts of every customer call based on documented best practices, providing real-time feedback to our sales team and support staff (as well as detailed performance indicators to their managers). This has resulted in a 97% increase in ‘perfect calls’ (as measured by our team covering every point correctly before hanging up) in January ‘25 alone,” Barrett noted in his shareholder letter.
These AI implementations are paving the way for future innovations like “Concierge everywhere,” which aims to transform Expensify’s chat-first design into an AI-first experience.
Financial Performance
Expensify’s reported revenue for the full year was $139.2 million, representing an 8% decrease compared to the prior year. However, the company made headway in profitability metrics, with a net loss of $10.1 million — down from $41.5 million in fiscal 2023. The adjusted EBITDA surged by 199% year over year (YoY), reaching $39.4 million. Notably, the company’s Expensify Card performed well. The card’s spend increased by 44% YoY, with interchange revenue up by 54%. During Q4, interchange-derived revenue grew to $5.1 million, marking a 62% increase from the same period last year. This growth is attributed to the company’s completed migration to a new card program that classifies interchange as revenue and enhances per-swipe earnings.
Expensify’s financial outlook for fiscal 2025 is cautiously optimistic, with a projected free cash flow between $16 million and $20 million. As the company positions itself for a future driven by AI, its 2024 progress points to favorable prospects.
