Company:Nubank

From HandWiki
Short description: Brazilian financial technology company
Nu Pagamentos S.A.
TypePublic
NYSENU
IndustryFinancial services
Founded6 May 2013; 10 years ago (6 May 2013)
Founders
  • David Vélez
  • Edward Wible
  • Cristina Junqueira
Headquarters
São Paulo
,
Area served
World
Key people
David Vélez (CEO)
Products
RevenueIncrease US$1.69 billion (2021)[1]:179
Increase US$−165 million (2021)[1]:179
Total assetsIncrease US$19.8 billion (2021)[1]:180
Total equityIncrease US$4.4 billion (2021)[1]:180
Number of employees
6,068 (December 2021)[1]:249
Websitenubank.com.br
Footnotes / references
[1]

Nubank is a Brazilian neobank headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the largest fintech bank in Latin America, with 80.4 million customers in Brazil and 1.51 million between Mexico and Colombia and a revenue of $1.69B. At its IPO in December 2021, Nubank was valued at $45 billion.[2][3]

History

Nubank was founded in 2013 by Colombian David Vélez, Brazilian Cristina Junqueira and American Edward Wible. The first transaction with a Nubank card was made on April 1, 2014. Four years later, Nubank became a unicorn startup with its valuation of US$1 billion.[4]

In the company's first two years of existence, it raised 600 million Brazilian reais.[5] In September 2014, Nubank raised $14.3 million from Sequoia Capital, along with Kaszek Ventures and Nicolas Berggruen.[6] Nubank launched its first financial product, an international Mastercard credit card that has no annuity fees and can be completely managed through a mobile app, and then in June 2015, Nubank led a series B round of investment with Tiger Global Management, along with existing backers Sequoia Capital, Kaszek Ventures and QED Investors.[7]

In 2017, Nubank launched its loyalty program,[8] Nubank Rewards. The program's points (which never expire) can be redeemed for a product catalogue or discounts on services, travel and entertainment. Customers can try the program for free for 30 days, after which they will be charged a fee in order to further use it. In the same year, it also launched its digital account, NuConta.

In October 2018, Tencent bought a minority stake of Nubank worth $180 million ($90 million in capital increase, $90 million in shares).[9] In late 2018, it began offering payments through debit.[10] In 2018, after launching its new credit card design, Nubank was featured in the Guinness Book of Records for making the world's largest unboxing.[11] In early 2019, the fintech started testing personal loans[12] with a few of its digital account users. In May 2019, the company announced it would begin operations in Mexico through a subsidiary called Nu.[13] This was the first time Nubank offered its services and products outside of Brazil.[14]

The CEO of Nubank representing the company in 2023

In January 2020, Nubank made its first acquisition with the purchase of Plataformatec, a company that specialized in software engineering and agile methodologies, thus continuing its growth by including the team of 50 developers of Platformatec.[15] In July of the same year, the company also acquired Cognitect, responsible for Datomic and the Clojure programming language.[16] In September 2020, Nubank acquired Easynvest, an investment broker also from Brazil, for an undisclosed amount.[17]

In November 2020, Nubank announced that the company would begin operations in Colombia.[18] In April 2021, Edward Wible, who was CTO of the company for 8 years, left his position "to contribute more directly to the construction of the systems and infrastructure of the company" as the Director of Technological Platforms.[19]

The bank completed an IPO in December 2021.[2][20] After the IPO, Nubank's cofounder Cristina Junqueira became the second woman in Brazil to reach the self-made billionaire status, since she held 2.9% of the stocks ($1.3 billion).[21] Before and after the IPO, Berkshire Hathaway invested a total of $1 billion in Nubank's stocks.[22][23]

In 2022, Nubank leads among the best banks of Brazil, by Forbes . The ranking, compiled by Forbes USA, evaluates issues such as customer satisfaction, reliability, digitalization, customer service, and financial advice.[24]

Description

Among the company's products are NuConta (a digital account), an international credit card, both without fees,[25][26] personal loans, life insurance and investments. The company's differentiating factor is to offer a credit card which is controlled completely through the means of a mobile app. The app allows its users to track transactions in real time, block their respective credit card, apply for a limit raise and contact customer support.

Some of Nubank's investors are Sequoia Capital, Founders Fund,[27] Kaszek Ventures, Tiger Global Management, Goldman Sachs, Berkshire Hathaway, QED Investors and DST Global.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Nu Holdings Ltd. 2021 Annual Report (Form 20-F)". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. 2022-04-21. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001691493/000129281422001705/nuform20f_2021.htm. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Kauflin, Jeff. "Shares Of Digital Bank Nubank Rise 15% In IPO, Valuing The Company At $45 Billion And Minting A New Female Billionaire Cofounder" (in en-en). https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2021/12/09/shares-of-digital-bank-nubank-rise-15-in-ipo-valuing-the-company-at-45-billion-and-minting-a-new-female-billionaire-cofounder/. 
  3. Caparroso, José (9 December 2021). "Nubank sale a bolsa como el banco más valioso de América Latina" (in es-co). https://forbes.co/2021/12/09/negocios/nubank-sale-a-bolsa-como-el-banco-mas-valioso-de-america-latina/. 
  4. "Nubank é o terceiro unicórnio brasileiro - Link" (in pt-BR). https://link.estadao.com.br/noticias/empresas,nubank-e-o-terceiro-unicornio-brasileiro,70002208642. 
  5. Zogbi, Paula. "Nubank levanta R$ 271 milhões em nova rodada de investimentos" (in pt-br). http://www.infomoney.com.br/negocios/grandes-empresas/noticia/5904049. 
  6. Ingrid Lunden, Finance Startup Nubank Nabs $14.3M In Sequoia’s First Brazil Investment, Techcrunch.com, 25 September 2014
  7. Ingrid Lunden, Brazil’s Nubank Raises $30M Led By Tiger To Build Out Its Mobile-Based Credit Card Business, Techcrunch.com, 2 June 2015
  8. "Nubank prepara programa de milhagem - Economia" (in pt-BR). https://economia.estadao.com.br/noticias/geral,nubank-prepara-programa-de-milhagem,10000022346. 
  9. Carolina Mandl, China's Tencent invests $180 million in Brazil fintech Nubank, Reuuters.com, 8 October 2018
  10. "Nubank lança funções débito e saque para clientes da NuConta" (in pt-br). 2018-12-11. https://www.valor.com.br/financas/6020927/nubank-lanca-funcoes-debito-e-saque-para-clientes-da-nuconta. 
  11. "Nubank quebra recorde mundial e entra para o Guinness World Records" (in pt-BR). https://exame.abril.com.br/marketing/nubank-quebra-recorde-mundial-e-entra-para-o-guinness-world-records/. 
  12. "Nubank começa a oferecer empréstimo pessoal – Negócios" (in pt-br). 2019-02-08. https://tecnoblog.net/278079/nubank-emprestimo-pessoal-juros/. 
  13. "Digital bank Nubank arrived in Mexico" (in en-US). 2019-05-08. https://developerz.software/2019/05/08/digital-bank-nubank-arrived-in-mexico/. 
  14. "Com escritório no México, Nubank inicia ofensiva internacional" (in pt-br). https://g1.globo.com/economia/noticia/2019/05/07/com-escritorio-no-mexico-nubank-inicia-ofensiva-internacional.ghtml. 
  15. "En busca de ingenieros, Nubank realiza su primera adquisición". https://link.estadao.com.br/noticias/inovacao,em-busca-de-engenheiros-nubank-faz-sua-primeira-aquisicao,70003146278. 
  16. "Nubank adquire empresa norte-americana de tecnologia Cognitect" (in pt-br). https://valorinveste.globo.com/mercados/renda-variavel/empresas/noticia/2020/07/23/nubank-adquire-empresa-norte-americana-de-tecnologia-cognitect.ghtml. 
  17. Carolina Mandl, Brazil’s Nubank buys Advent-backed broker Easynvest, Reuters.com, 11 September 2020
  18. Tim Wilson, Nubank Plants a Flag in Colombia, Nearshoreamericas.com, 2 November 2020
  19. "Nubank Hires Former Amazon Executive as New Chief Technology Officer". Olhar digital. https://olhardigital.com.br/en/2021/04/07/pro/nubank-hires-ex-amazon-executive-as-new-chief-technology-officer/amp/. 
  20. Pooler, Michael; Megaw, Nicholas (2021-12-09). "Nubank hits $41.5bn valuation as it plans growth in Mexico and Colombia". Financial Times. https://www.ft.com/content/2ddd812b-5626-443d-9521-df0bf4b01d39. 
  21. Eliza Haverstock, Brazil’s Nubank Cofounder Cristina Junqueira No Longer A Billionaire As Nu Holdings Stock Cools, Forbes.com, 27 January 2022
  22. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire invests $1 billion in crypto-friendly Nubank, Cnbctv18.com, 17 February 2022
  23. Reshab Agarwal, Warren Buffet invests $1B in bitcoin-friendly Nubank, Techstory.in, 16 February 2022
  24. "Brazil's 15 best banks in 2022 - Nubank leads for the fourth time - Forbes Ranking" (in en-US). 2022-04-14. https://www.riotimesonline.com/brazil-news/brazil/brazils-15-best-banks-in-2022-nubank-leads-for-the-fourth-time-forbes-ranking/. 
  25. "Nubank finalmente vira um bank - Tecnoblog". 24 October 2017. https://tecnoblog.net/226659/nubank-banco-conta-corrente/. 
  26. "Nubank aprimora plataforma digital e cria a NuConta - EXAME". https://exame.abril.com.br/seu-dinheiro/nubank-vira-banco-digital-e-apresenta-a-nuconta/. 
  27. "Nubank passa a valer US$ 500 milhões com nova rodada de investimentos". 7 January 2016. https://gizmodo.uol.com.br/nubank-investimento/. 

External links