After growing up in Caracas, Cardenas went to Stanford to study computer science. He dropped out after two years (in 2021) and teamed up with University of Waterloo dropout Kevin Bai to start Slash, a digital bank for businesses that offers products like corporate credit cards, checking accounts and stablecoin payments. Slash initially focused on serving sneaker resellers and stumbled when that market crashed in 2023. But Cardenas and Bai pivoted, and in December 2024, Slash raised $41 million in funding at a $370 million valuation from investors including Goodwater Capital, NEA and Menlo Ventures. Today, Slash tries to differentiate itself from competitors like Ramp and Brex by tailoring its services to solve industry-specific problems. The startup makes most of its money on interchange, the 2% fees merchants pay when they accept credit and debit cards. It has about 2,500 customers and processes $6 billion in annualized transactions, up from $1.2 billion a year ago.
