WEX: Fleet Cards - [Business Breakdowns, EP.131]

This is Matt Reustle and today we are breaking down WEX, a big fish in a less known pond. WEX is a leader in the fleet card market - they offer trucking businesses special credit cards which help secure advantaged rates on fuel among many other things. This is a business with a long history as WEX is headquartered in Maine, and really came to life in the 1980s. To break down WEX, I'm joined by Mark Tomasovic from Energize Capital, a multiple-time guest on Business Breakdowns. We get into the history of this industry and how WEX found a very creative way to accelerate adoption within this market. Please enjoy this breakdown of WEX. Subscribe to Colossus's New Show: Art of Investing Buy a ticket to Patrick and David Senra's live show. Interested in hiring from the Colossus Community? Click here. For the full show notes, transcript, and links to the best content to learn more, check out the episode page here. ----- This episode is brought to you by Tegus Converge — the first virtual event centered on the world of investor research. When twin brothers Tom and Mike Elnick realized that the research process for investors was broken, they founded Tegus to fix it. Now the people behind the most trusted research platform are bringing institutional investors together to investigate the state — and the future — of fundamental research. On November 8th, join industry luminaries like IGSB Founder Reece Duca and Daniel Gross, AI Expert, Entrepreneur and Investor, to dig into the latest research trends and breakthrough technologies shaping the investment landscape. Register today at tegus.com/register. ----- Business Breakdowns is a property of Colossus, LLC. For more episodes of Business Breakdowns, visit joincolossus.com/episodes. Stay up to date on all our podcasts by signing up to Colossus Weekly, our quick dive every Sunday highlighting the top business and investing concepts from our podcasts and the best of what we read that week. Sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @JoinColossus | @patrick_oshag | @jspujji | @zbfuss | @ReustleMatt | @domcooke Show Notes (00:02:57) - (First question) - An overview of what WEX is and what they do (00:03:50) - A summary of the market that WEX operates in (00:05:59) - The history of the company’s creation (00:08:53) - The importance of signing up large gas companies rather than retail locations (00:11:33) - Value propositions behind providing fleet cards (00:12:53) - How the economic model works for the cards (00:13:48) - The percentage of spend equivalent to Visa or Mastercard (00:14:31) - The difficulty behind switching from one fleet card provider to another (00:17:05) - The role fuel prices play in the total revenue of the business (00:20:09) - Threats to consider on the supply end of the business (00:21:57) - Recharging at home and the process of receiving a credit (00:23:06) - Other businesses WEX is involved in (00:24:27) - A comparison between all of WEX’s businesses and where they direct focus (00:25:13) - A look into their health and employee benefits line (00:26:39) - The overall financial profile from a revenue and margins standpoint (00:28:43) - How big players like Amazon or Walmart play a part in potential business (00:30:02) - The threat of Visa or Mastercard entering the same space (00:31:17) - Total amount of revenue generated from electric vehicle fleets (00:33:27) - Electric charging locations and the process of building these facilities (00:35:13) - Technology invested into creating faster charging stations (00:35:50) - An overall look at risks for the business (00:37:54) - Other parts of WEX that stand out (00:40:10) - Lessons learned from studying WEX