Nubank soars ahead with 25m customers
Nubank, the Brazil and Mexico-based neobank quietly growing leagues above its global peers, has reached 25 million customers, AltFi reports.
The bank, which was founded in 2013, claims to have 10 million users in just eight months since October 2019, when it announced its 15 million customer milestone.
Nubank reached a $10 billion valuation last July
The pace of growth means Nubank acquired 42,000 users each day on average in the first quarter of 2020. Across Brazil and Mexico, where it expanded in March, the challenger bank has roughly a 7.4% share of all consumers.
For comparison, UK challenger bank Monzo has roughly 4.2 million users, Revolut has around 10 million, German challenger N26 has roughly 5 million, and US challenger Chime has roughly 8 million.
“If there is a legacy that all of us who work at Nubank want to leave behind, it is to reinvent the way in which people use and relate to financial services, in order to give them back control of their money,” says CEO and founder David Vélez.
The fintech says 20% of its customers have never had a credit card before and 80% of its customer sign-ups come from unpaid referrals.
In July 2019, Nubank raised $400 million and hit a valuation of $10 billion with the help of heavyweight backers such as TCV, Tencent, DST Global and Sequoia Capital.
Latin America is a huge opportunity for fintechs, as far more of the region’s consumers are unbanked compared to regions such as North America and Europe, meaning they do not have to battle with as many existing loyalties to incumbent players.
Brazil is also starting to kick off its open banking legislation, which is set to reach full implementation by October 2021, and will give way to even more fintech start-up opportunities.
Big banks and investment firms have invested heavily in Latin America. Banco Santander makes roughly 41% of its profits off the region, and has invested in four Latin American fintechs to date – most recently alternative lender a55.
Japanese conglomerate SoftBank also injected a further $1 billion into Latin America this year, adding to its $1.6 billion commitment from 2019.
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