Bhushan is a FinTech enthusiast and holds a good flair in understanding financial markets. His interest in economics and finance draw his attention towards the new emerging Blockchain Technology and Cryptocurrency markets. He is continuously in a learning process and keeps himself motivated by sharing his acquired knowledge. In free time he reads thriller fictions novels and sometimes explore his culinary skills.
In its largest investment round till date, Brazilian FinTech startup Nubank has raised a massive $400 million in Series F funding round. This has pushed the valuation of this six-year-old startup to a whopping $10 billion. Nubank aims to disrupt the country’s traditional banking which has been accused of strong-arming its customers.
With over 8.5 million customers, Nubank is one of the largest online banks outside Asia. The latest funding round was led by the US-based TCV. The other global investing giants included Sequoia Capital, Tencent, Thrive Capital, DST Global, Ribbit Capital, and Dragoneer.
Moreover, this massive funding comes on the stellar growth results and growing customer-base for the startup. Since its last funding round last year, Nubank’s customer base has surged to 12 million in Brazil. This makes Nubank Brazil’s sixth-largest financial institution by the number of clients.
Global Expansion and Additional Services
Over the last six years since its inception, Nubank has made significant progress in introducing new services to its portfolio. The company started its business by providing app-controlled credit cards and reward points. Now, the fintech startup also offers digital savings account and personal loan services to its customers.
Besides, the bank is also working on loan options for microentrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses. Earlier in May 2019, the company also started its overseas expansion by opening offices in Argentina and Mexico. The company plans to resume its operation by the end of this year in these two countries.
The fintech startup has over 1400 employees in its offices across Sao Paolo, Berlin, Argentina, and Mexico. It soon plans to hire more staff to meet its expansion plans. David Vélez, founder and CEO of Nubank, told Reuters that the latest funding received shall be directed towards its expansion.
In the company blog post, Vélez added that they are firm on their mission to eliminate complexity and “give people back control of their finances”. Velez added:
“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.“
Speaking about this 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.”