Fintech One-On-One Cristina Junqueira, Co-Founder of Nubank, on conquering Latin America and taking on the US
Nubank co-founder Cristina Junquiera joins the podcast to discuss one of fintech's most remarkable success stories, from a Brazilian startup that had customers begging to get off the waitlist to a publicly traded company serving 127 million customers and reaching 60% of Brazilian adults.
In this wide-ranging conversation, Cristina shares the origin story of how three founders from different countries came together to fight complexity in financial services, the challenges of conducting simultaneous IPOs in New York and Sao Paulo to give their customers access, and lessons from expanding into Mexico and Colombia. Most notably, she reveals why Nubank chose the massive US market as their fourth country, detailing their de novo bank charter application with the OCC and her relocation to Miami to lead the charge. Cristina also discusses Nubank's approach to digital assets, their partnership with OpenAI, and why she believes there's far more ahead for the company than behind it.
In this podcast you will learn:
- How Cristina’s time at Brazil’s largest bank prepared her for Nubank.
- How she met David Velez, the CEO and co-founder.
- What she saw was missing in the Brazilian market.
- When they realized that they were on to something special with Nubank.
- What they had to change when they expanded into Brazil.
- How consumers use credit cards different from Brazil to Mexico and Colombia.
- Why they took on the added complexity and cost of allowing their retail customers to participate in their IPO.
- How becoming a public company has impacted their mission.
- With 60% of adults in Brazil, how Nubank can still grow in their home market.
- When they decided that the U.S. was going to be in their expansion plans.
- What they see as the opportunity for Nubank in the U.S.
- Why they decided to file a de novo bank charter application rather than acquire a bank.
- Nubank’s approach to digital assets.
- How they are partnering with OpenAI and their approach to AI in general.
- What Cris is most excited about for this new chapter for Nubank.
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