The Latin American financial technology firm Nubank announced strong growth in customers, revenue, and profitability in its financial year of 2023. The fintech company added 19.3 million customers in 2023 to reach nearly 94 million total customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
The customer base expanded over 50% year-over-year (YoY), with Brazil operations hitting 87.8 million customers. This represents over half of Brazil's adult population and makes Nubank the fourth-largest financial institution in the country by customers.
Nubank Delivers $1 Billion Profit as the Customer Base Approaches 100 Million
The surging customer count fueled a revenue increase of 57% on a constant currency basis to $2.4 billion in Q4 2023. For the full year, Nubank generated $8 billion in total revenue. Thanks to this rapid growth, Nubank earned $1 billion in net profit and $1.2 billion in adjusted net profit for 2023, a significant turnaround from the $9.1 million net loss in 2022.
The results confirm the words of David Vélez, the Founder and CEO of Nubank, who earlier this month stated in an interview with the Financial Times that his company is aiming to achieve annual profits of $1 billion.
The company remains well-capitalized with capital adequacy ratios about twice regulatory minimums across its markets. Nubank also grew its interest-earning portfolio 91% YoY to $8.2 billion, funded by an increase of 38% in low-cost deposits to $23.7 billion.
"We are building the largest consumer platform in Latin America, with strong earnings-generating capabilities," added Vélez. "As we work towards surpassing the 100 million customers milestone in 2024, we are investing heavily in new growth avenues."
Becoming the Biggest Bank in Latin America
In Brazil specifically, Nubank more than doubled lending originations with new products like secured loans, payroll loans, and credit cards. The company also made progress in increasing wallet share among higher-income customers.
Internationally, Nubank's Mexico customer base expanded to 5.2 million, with growth accelerating after the launch of its Cuenta Nu deposit account. Colombia also saw accelerating growth, surpassing 800,000 customers before the upcoming launch of a savings product.
With nearly 100 million customers and new products across lending, deposits, investments and insurance, Nubank believes it can consolidate as Latin America's largest financial services platform.
Under the guidance of David Vélez, Nubank has defied traditional banking standards, achieving notable financial results in an industry known for slow growth and modest profits. In the initial quarter of 2023, Nubank disclosed a net profit of $142 million and revenues of $1.6 billion, marking an YoY increase of 87%. This performance has propelled the company's valuation to $37 billion, with Vélez's stake valued at approximately $8 billion.
