An employee at Nubank's office. Image: Nubank
After hitting the 12m customer mark in Brazil, fintech start-up Nubank has been valued at more than $10bn.
Brazilian fintech start-up Nubank announced a $400m Series F round of VC funding on Friday (26 July).
The round was led by Woody Marshall of TCV, a fund that has invested more than $11bn in tech companies including Facebook, Netflix, GoDaddy, Spotify and Zillow.
There was also participation from Singapore sovereign-wealth fund GIC Private Ltd. Previous investors in the company include Tencent Holdings, DST Global, Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures.
The recent $400m investment brings the total that Nubank has raised in VC funding to $820m. Following the latest funding round, The Wall Street Journal reported that Nubank is now valued at more than $10bn. In October 2018, the company was valued at $4bn.
Company growth
The updated valuation comes after Nubank announced that it has reached the 12m customer mark for its range of products, which makes it the sixth-largest financial institution by customer count in its home market. As TechCrunch points out, with Brazil’s population of 210m, there’s still plenty of room for growth.
Founded in 2013 by Adam Edward Wible, Cristina Junqueira and David Vélez, Nubank provides digital finance services including savings and money transfers through its app, personal loans, rewards and cash withdrawals.
Vélez told Reuters that Nubank plans to use proceeds from this round of funding to accelerate growth in Brazil and enter new countries in Latin America. Nubank has already began to launch in Mexico and Argentina.
Between Nubank’s Berlin, São Paulo and Mexico City offices, the company has around 1,400 employees at present, with 40pc of roles at all seniority levels filled by women.
Speaking about the investment, TCV’s Marshall said: “Leveraging unique technology, David Vélez and his team are continuously pushing the boundaries of delivering best-in-class financial services grounded in a culture of tech and innovation. Nubank has all the core tenets of what TCV looks for in preeminent franchise investments.”
On the company’s blog, Vélez added that Nubank remains firm in its “mission to combat complexity and give people back control of their finances”.
“While technological change has been transformative for most industries around the world, most bank customers continue to pay absurd interest rates and fees to receive poor financial services in return.
“In addition, more than 2bn people still do not have access to basic financial services. With this new investment from TCV and other investors, we hope to contribute to significantly change this situation.”
