Nubank was founded in 2013 by David Velez, Cristina Junqueira, and Edward Wible in Sao Paulo. The company started by offering a no-fee credit card managed entirely through a mobile app — at a time when Brazilian banks charged some of the highest fees and interest rates in the world.
The timing was perfect. Brazil’s banking market was dominated by five large banks that controlled over 80% of assets, and customers were frustrated with high costs and poor service. Nubank’s purple card became a symbol of a better alternative, and word-of-mouth growth was explosive.
Nubank went public on the NYSE in December 2021, raising $2.6 billion in one of the largest fintech IPOs ever. At its peak, the company’s market cap surpassed $50 billion, briefly making it more valuable than Itau Unibanco, Brazil’s largest traditional bank.
Today Nubank offers credit cards, personal loans, savings accounts, insurance, investments, and a digital checking account called NuConta. The company has expanded to Mexico and Colombia, and serves over 90 million customers across the three countries — making it the largest digital bank in the world by customer count.
Nubank achieved profitability in 2023, reporting net income of $1 billion for the full year. The company’s revenue exceeded $8 billion. It employs over 7,000 people and is headquartered in Sao Paulo with offices in Berlin, Buenos Aires, and Mexico City.
