David Vélez

Co-founder and CEO of Nubank — the branchless digital bank that attacked Brazil’s banking oligopoly and grew to 100M+ customers across Latin America, listing on the NYSE in 2021.

David Vélez (born 1981, Medellín, Colombia) is the co-founder and CEO of Nubank. A Stanford-educated former Sequoia Capital partner, he was sent to Brazil to build a venture practice, ran into the dysfunction of the country’s banking oligopoly, and in 2013 founded Nubank with Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible to attack it. Its no-fee, phone-first purple credit card grew into a full digital bank serving more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Nubank listed on the NYSE in 2021 (~$41bn), drew a $500M Berkshire Hathaway investment, and reached its first full-year profit in 2023. Vélez is the richest person in Colombia and a Giving Pledge signatory.

Notable achievements

• Co-founded Nubank (2013) and built it into one of the world’s largest digital banks — 100M+ customers across Latin America.
• Attacked Brazil’s banking oligopoly with a no-fee, branchless, phone-first model that was both better and cheaper than incumbents.
• Took Nubank public on the NYSE in 2021 (~$41bn) with backing from Sequoia, Tencent and a $500M Berkshire Hathaway investment.
• Drove the company to its first full-year profit (2023) and ~$2bn net income (2024) — answering years of profitability skepticism.
• Richest person in Colombia (Forbes) and a signatory of the Giving Pledge (2021).

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