- São Paulo, Brazil-based fintech company Nubank announced it raised $40 million in Series F funding led by TCV
Nubank — a São Paulo, Brazil-based fintech company — announced it raised $40 million in Series F funding led by TCV. This investment marks TCV’s first significant investment in Latin America. And existing investors Tencent, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer, Ribbit Capital, and Thrive Capital also joined the round. The deal is subject to customary closing conditions. Including this round of funding, Nubank has raised $820 million across seven investment rounds.
Nubank is currently the sixth-largest financial institution by a number of clients and it started its international expansion in May of this year. And the company also opened offices in Mexico and Argentina. Plus it is preparing to start operations and serve customers in both countries over the coming months.
“We remain firm in our mission to fight complexity and give back to people the control of their finances. Even though the technological change has been transformational for most industries across the globe, most banked consumers continue to pay absurd interest rates and fees to receive very poor financial services in return. Additionally, over two billion people still do not have access to basic financial services. With this new investment by TCV and our existing investors, we expect to contribute to meaningfully change this situation by accelerating our growth in Brazil and supporting the launch of our new Latin American markets,” said David Vélez — the founder and CEO of Nubank. “We are proud of our shareholders and their continued support of our business. Since our early days, we have had the privilege of drawing from the experience of some of the most successful technology investors in the world, and this round led by TCV further strengthens our capital base”, continues Vélez. “TCV has supported some of the most remarkable disruptors of our time, including Netflix, Spotify, and Zillow, with capital, strategic guidance, and industry expertise, and we look forward to partnering with them as we grow the business.”
Nubank also expanded upon its product portfolio beyond its original app-controlled credit card and Rewards products including a personal loan product and digital savings accounts for consumers as well as SMBs and microentrepreneurs.
“TCV has a long history of backing founder-run businesses that leverage technology to provide magical experiences to consumers,” added TCV general partner Woody Marshall. “David Vélez and his team have built an impressive business at Nubank. We have been impressed by their market position, product-centric DNA and unrelenting focus on the consumer experience. We look forward to supporting their expansion into new markets and providing additional services to their consumers.”
Late last year, Nubank started offering debit cards and cash withdrawal functions to its digital savings account customers thus consolidating its digital account as a complete alternative to meet the basic financial needs of all Brazilians. And there are more than 8 million Brazilians who are already customers of NuConta.
Upon completing the process to obtain its license as a financial institution, the company launched a personal loan product in early 2019 — which is now available to more than 500,000 customers. And Nubank also reached 100% of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities within 5 years of activity — which is a milestone in a country where only 60% of cities have bank branches.
In Q2 of this year, the company also started expanding internationally as it announced operations in Mexico. And less than two months later, it expanded to Argentina. The two countries are going to receive technology and innovation hubs to develop solutions focused on local financial problems.
Nubank now has more than 1,700 employees in Brazil, Germany, Argentina, and Mexico. And the company is planning to significantly grow its employee based in the next few years. “We are always looking for the best talent in the world. We build strong and diverse teams with professionals from different cultures to jointly challenge the status quo and reduce complexity. We are a technology company by nature and, therefore, we want the best software engineers as part of our global team,” Vélez pointed out.
