David Vélez: 100 million customers “are just the beginning of our infinite game”

São Paulo, May 16, 2024 - Nubank surpassed 100 million customers and has recently posted record financial metrics in the first quarter of 2024. David Vélez, founder and CEO, celebrated these and other milestones in an event held at the company's headquarters in São Paulo this Wednesday, May 15.

"Seven years ago, when we set this goal of 100 million customers, it seemed unattainable," began Vélez. "One million customers seemed impossible. Ten million seemed impossible. 100 million… And here we are," he celebrated.

He was accompanied by the executive board of the institution for a series of presentations and interviews throughout the week about Nu's journey to 100 million customers and the company's long-term goals. Among the guests were customers, content creators, and specialized journalists from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. While celebrating the milestone, Vélez reinforced the company's primary cultural value, customer focus: "We are certain that by doing what is best for our customers, we are winning them over for decades. We optimize long-term value creation, not short-term. It's an infinite game. That is our business strategy: be it with 1 million, 10 million, and now with 100 million customers, our culture only evolves."

Watch Nu's management team talking about reaching this milestone

You at the Center of Everything

The newly launched "You at the Center of Everything" campaign celebrates Nu's customer connection with the brand.

For Cristina Junqueira, Co-founder and Chief Growth Officer of Nu, the work reflects the company's philosophy: "This campaign brings together customers from Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, and aims to illustrate how we, as a company, are made up of all their individual stories. What I like most is that it makes us reflect on the synergies between technology and the human touch, and I think that says a lot about the work we do: putting the world's most sophisticated technology at the service of our customers," said Junqueira on stage. She highlighted that the company registers customer satisfaction rates (NPS) twice above the market average in the three countries where it operates.

Vitor Olivier, CTO of Nubank, details this interplay between technology and customer: "From the beginning, we were clear that our technological platform had to be efficient, available, scalable, fast, and secure. Our 100% digital infrastructure contributed to keeping the company's service cost low and having one of the best efficiency rates in Latin America while also providing scalability."

As the executive pointed out, the company uses technology to enable customers to save time, money, and optimize their assets. "Nubank also protects its customers with less friction and more security, using artificial intelligence and machine learning against fraud and technology against scams. The company prevents more than $350 million in potential frauds per year," he highlighted.

Money Platform

Olivier added that Nubank is working to materialize what it calls the Money Platform, aiming to bring private banking to everyone's pocket. "It's already possible to see the first steps of our Platform in products like the Payment Assistant or personalized investment recommendations for each customer's profile."

For the CTO, the new features, once implemented, often seem obvious, as they solve clear pain points for users. "And this is precisely our magic: to remove complexity and create a new standard for our customers. True innovation, when it has a real impact, eventually seems obvious after a while."

Ten customers tell the stories of how Nu impacted their lives

Brazil and long-term plans

Over the past two years, Nubank has tripled its revenues and seen its net income grow consistently every quarter. The company is now one of the most profitable financial institutions in Latin America, with a return on equity (ROE) that exceeds 40% in its Brazilian operation in the first quarter of 2024. Nu's revenues grew to US$ 2,7 billion and net income to US$ 379 milhões in the quarter, with cost to serve stable below the dollar level and expanding ARPAC to US$ 11,4.

The company's earnings are reinvested in accelerating its own growth, making Nu one of the few fintechs capable of combining growth, solid profitability and excellent credit quality, says Guilherme Lago, CFO. "The more customers use our products, the more we increase engagement and scale our business. This generates an incredible amount of data that Nu, as a technology company, can responsibly and securely use to build better models and products, reducing costs and attracting more customers," he said about the growth flywheel.

"We built our company around the shared belief that we should invest every last cent into making the best product for our customers. Even if it means short-term losses. In a competitive market, customers will choose whoever treats them better and delivers the best products. This long-term trust naturally translates into business results," added Cristina Junqueira.

In her presentation, Livia Chanes, CEO of Nubank in Brazil, highlighted that the 100 million customer milestone provides the institution with a solid foundation for the future. "The next decade will present a different scenario, with unique challenges. We will have to reinvent how we do things in terms of technology, talent, and scale. But the driving force of our business remains intact: the more customers we have, the better this business model works because we have more data to improve our systems and reduce costs, and thus provide better products," she projected.

Livia Chanes listed Nu's four priorities in Brazil at the moment: 1) expand the reach of the Nu experience; 2) broaden offers for medium and high-income; 3) expand offerings to small and medium-sized businesses; and 4) empower the upcoming generation of customers (under-18).

"There is a lot of room to conquer. We are 100 million and yes, that is impressive. But we must not forget that this only represents 1.25% of the world's population. We are confident that by doing what is best for our customers, we are winning them over for decades. We optimize long-term value creation, not short-term. It's an infinite game," concluded Vélez.