Nubank tripled customers to 34m in 2020 and raised $400m at a $25bn valuation

Nubank launched in 2013 as a no-fee, app-only credit card, and built its growth on word of mouth rather than marketing — its founders claimed near-zero customer acquisition cost. When COVID-19 hit Brazil, branch banking stalled and mobile finance accelerated.

Between its July 2019 funding round and January 2021, Nubank almost tripled its customer base from 12 million to 34 million people, onboarding around 41,000 customers a day by late 2020, and expanded to Mexico and Colombia.

In January 2021 Nubank raised $400 million in a Series G round at roughly a $25 billion valuation — more than double its 2019 value — placing it among the five most valuable financial institutions in Latin America and the largest digital bank in the world by customers.

Customers grew from 12m to 34m between July 2019 and January 2021; a $400m Series G valued Nubank near $25bn, top-five in LatAm.

App-only banking was the only safe option during lockdowns.

Zero-cost word-of-mouth growth scaled without burning cash on ads.

A no-fee card and free account undercut concentrated, fee-heavy incumbents.

International expansion multiplied the same playbook across Latin America.

A crisis that closes branches favours the app-only bank with zero acquisition cost — if the product and word-of-mouth engine were built first.

Nubank used the capital to scale international operations and deepen products — investments, insurance and instant payments — and its Brazilian operation had been cash-flow positive since 2018. The pandemic pushed millions of Latin Americans into digital finance, and Nubank became its largest independent digital bank.