Nu Holdings Ltd. (NU)

Nu Holdings (Nubank) is a Cayman Islands exempted company, incorporated in 2016, that operates a fully digital financial services platform for consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America. It was launched to challenge incumbent banks, which it describes as charging high fees and applying homogeneous underwriting. Its mission is to fight complexity by providing accessible, affordable and easy-to-use financial products. It began in Brazil in 2013, launched its first product, the no-annual-fee Nu Credit Card, in 2014, and went public on the NYSE in December 2021, raising US$2.3 billion. It reported 131 million customers as of December 31, 2025, along with 2025 revenues of US$15.8 billion and net income of US$2.9 billion.

Its products are organized around what it calls the "Five Financial Seasons": spending, saving, investing, protecting and borrowing. Spending includes credit and prepaid cards, Pix and QR-code payments, WhatsApp Pay, wire transfers, NuPay, NuTravel and the NuCel mobile virtual network service run with Claro. Saving includes NuAccount personal and business accounts and Money Boxes. Investing runs through the Nu Investimentos platform, which grew out of the Easynvest acquisition. Borrowing covers credit cards, personal loans, secured loans such as INSS payroll and FGTS-backed loans, and Working Capital for SMEs. Protecting covers insurance for mobile devices, life and home, including life insurance distributed with Chubb. Premium and niche offerings include the Ultravioleta metal card and an under-18 credit card. At year-end 2025, total deposits were US$41.9 billion and the interest-earning portfolio was US$18.5 billion.

Nu serves individual consumers of all social classes and ages, plus SMEs and marketplace partners, in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. In Brazil it had 113 million customers, about 62% of the adult population, and an 86% activity rate. In Mexico it had 14 million customers, serves around 15% of the adult population, and has advanced its banking license process. In Colombia it passed 4 million customers, helped by a subscription-based credit card. These three countries represent over 61% of Latin America's population and about two-thirds of its GDP. Nu cites low banking penetration, a large unbanked population and low credit card adoption as the market opportunity. Its main competitors are the five largest incumbent banks in each country, which hold 68% to 80% of loans and deposits. Customer growth is driven largely by word-of-mouth referrals, and over 62% of active customers use Nu as their primary banking relationship.

Operationally, Nu runs on its own technology, including NuCore, a proprietary cloud-based core banking platform built on a microservices architecture, and the NuX proprietary credit engine, which uses machine learning for underwriting and risk management. Customer support is provided by in-house "Xpeers" using proprietary software and AI. Its employees represent over 50 nationalities. The company's registered office is in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands.