The Story of Nubank, The World’s Largest Neobank with Co-founder Cristina Junqueira

The Peel with Turner Novak

Cristina Junqueira is the co-founder of Nubank, the largest neobank in Latin America – and in the world – with more than 80 million customers. She is also the second self-made female billionaire in Brazil. Cristina and her co-founders David Vélez and Edward Wible launched Nubank in 2013, essentially building the fintech category in a market where it was nonexistent, and went on to release a no-fee credit card, app, and other banking products across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Cristina takes us through the rise of Nubank, from the scrappiest days building in a house in Sao Paulo to being backed by investors like Sequoia, Founders Fund, DST, TCV, Tiger Global, and Warren Buffett, and then on to their IPO in December 2021. We also touch on the impact of Nubank’s distinctive brand choices, how they navigated government regulations that nearly shut them down, and how they were able to spend $0 on marketing throughout most of their history.

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Preview
(02:38) Fintech and the preconditions for disrupting financial services in LatAm
(05:38) Educating investors on the opportunity for fintech in LatAm
(07:35) The scale of unbanked and underbanked populations in Brazil, Mexico, and other countries; and why expanding access to these products increases NuBank's market share
(08:21) Expanding the pie and just how profitable banks can be in LatAm
(15:37) Starting NuBank and the lessons Cristina learned from incumbent banks
(18:11) The biggest hurdle to starting NuBank
(19:33) Navigating Nubank’s first product from inception to successful credit card
(21:08) Spending $0 CAC in an industry with hugely expensive marketing pushes
(22:32) $0 on marketing and scrappy ethics
(26:40) The crazy circumstances around Nubank’s Series A fundraise
(36:54) Cristina’s reflections on the IPO in December 2021
(39:31) How Nubank navigates a changing macro environment
(40:40) The importance of Nubank’s distinctive brand
(42:57) Surviving an existential threat from Brazil’s government
(46:28) Scaling from a small scrappy team to a multinational global publicly traded company
(49:02) Personal growth and maintaining strong co-founder relationships

Referenced:

Nubank: ⁠https://nubank.com.br/en/

Nubank's IPO mints Cristina as a billionaire: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffkauflin/2021/12/09/

Where to find Cristina:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/junqueira_cris

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crisjunqueira/

Where to find Turner:

Newsletter: https://www.thespl.it

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TurnerNovak

Banana Capital: https://bananacapital.vc