The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2013-2025
Nubank's bet: no-fee phone banking can crack Brazil's banks
Founded in 2013 with a no-fee credit card ordered by phone, Nubank served 114 million customers and earned a US$1.97 billion annual profit in 2024.
Nubank
What the business is
Nubank is a digital financial services company founded in São Paulo in 2013 by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible. It started with a no-fee credit card requested through an app and expanded into digital accounts, lending, investments and insurance across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.
How it started
Nubank was founded on 6 May 2013 in São Paulo by Colombian-born David Vélez with Brazilian Cristina Junqueira and American Edward Wible, working from a simple house. Its first product was a credit card with no annual fee, requested through the app, built to fight the bureaucracy of Brazil's traditional banks; it went viral, drawing more than one million applications in 2015.
What happened
Nubank expanded into accounts, lending, investments and insurance, and into Mexico and Colombia. By May 2023 it had more than 80 million clients on its platform, over four million card applications in the first quarter alone, and a customer acquisition cost of roughly US$6.50 against average revenue per client near US$8 - a low-income mass market it planned to keep serving as balances grew. In October 2024 it launched NuCel, its own mobile phone service, pushing beyond financial services.
How it ended up
For 2024 Nubank reported revenue of US$11.5 billion, up 43% year over year (58% in constant currency), and net income of about US$1.97 billion, nearly double 2023's US$1.03 billion. It ended the year with 114.2 million customers, 94.9 million of them active, served 58% of Brazil's adult population, and called 2024 a transformative year for its mission of accessible, transparent, low-cost finance in Latin America.
Background
Nubank was founded on 6 May 2013 in São Paulo by David Vélez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible with one product: a credit card with no annual fee, requested through a phone app, aimed at the bureaucracy and fees of Brazil's traditional banks. The card went viral, drawing more than one million applications in 2015.
The bet was that phone-first, no-fee banking could win Brazil's mass market and still profit: acquire customers cheaply, keep serving them as their balances and needs grow, and expand from a single card into a full money platform. By May 2023 Nubank had more than 80 million clients, with over four million card applications in the first quarter alone and a customer acquisition cost near US$6.50.
For 2024 Nubank reported revenue of US$11.5 billion, up 43% (58% in constant currency), and net income of about US$1.97 billion, nearly double 2023's US$1.03 billion. It ended the year with 114.2 million customers, 94.9 million of them active, across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, making it Brazil's third-largest financial institution by customers.
What has to be true
- The fee was the visible enemy: Brazilian banking charged heavily and served ordinary customers poorly, so a no-fee card gave people a concrete reason to switch.
- Phone-only distribution kept acquisition cheap, about US$6.50 a customer, and customers who loved the service became the marketing channel.
- Low balances were fine because costs were low too: average revenue per client near US$8 worked once the model ran at tens of millions of users.
- Expansion compounded the wedge: accounts, lending and investments raised revenue per customer while Mexico and Colombia added new markets.
What can be applied
Start with the fee everyone hates: Nubank's no-fee card turned customers into marketers, and the low-cost, high-volume model paid off after a decade of accounts, lending and new countries.
Aftermath
As of February 2025 Nubank is profitable at scale and expanding beyond banking: 114.2 million customers, revenue of US$11.5 billion and net income of about US$1.97 billion in 2024, serving 58% of Brazil's adult population, with over 10 million customers in Mexico and 2.5 million in Colombia. It launched NuCel, a mobile phone service, in October 2024 and was pushing its premium Ultravioleta card and an in-app marketplace. The share price still fell after the results on the weakening real, a sign that even a dominant low-cost Latin American bank carries currency and credit risk.
Sources
- Nubank foca em mercado latino-americano e quer se tornar maior money platform da região
- Nubank aumenta un 91% su utilidad en 2024; clientes superan los 114 millones
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