Nu Holdings Increases Customer Base by 22%, Prepares Global Expansion

Nu Holdings, the digital financial services platform operating across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, increased its customer base by 22% in 2024 to reach a total of 114.2 million.

The company added 4.5 million customers in the fourth quarter and 20.4 million in the full year 2024, Nu Holdings said in a Thursday (Feb. 20) earnings release.

“2024 was a transformation year for Nu as we advanced our mission to empower millions across Latin America with accessible, transparent and low-cost financial services,” Nubank Founder and CEO David Vélez said in the release.

Nu Holdings also saw its revenue increase 58% year over year to reach $11.5 billion for the full year 2024, according to the release.

The company is pursuing a “Three Act Strategy” that includes building “the largest and most loved” retail banking franchise in Latin America, expanding beyond financial services, and becoming “a global AI-driven digital banking model,” according to an earnings presentation released Thursday.

In Brazil, Nu Holdings is building its customer base and purchase volume among high-income consumers, according to the earnings release. The company earned a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 84 among these customers in 2024.

In terms of its international expansion, the company saw 91% year-over-year growth of its customer base in Mexico, reaching 10 million customers in the country by the end of 2024, the release said.

Nu Holdings also diversified its offerings and expanded its addressable market in 2024 by launching its in-app travel planning service called NuTravel and its mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service called NuCel, per the release.

“We advanced in all of our priorities with significant strides in our High-Income strategy in Brazil, expanded our footprint in Mexico, and broadened our portfolio with NuCel and NuTravel,” Vélez said in the release. “As we prepare to scale up our products and services globally, we remain focused on execution, customer-centric innovation and sustainable growth in our current markets.”

It was reported in January that Nu Holdings, which is domiciled in the Cayman Islands, is considering moving its legal domicile to Britain before beginning its planned global expansion.

“We are actively thinking what are some of the jurisdictions that make sense for us to consider, as we think about the next 10 years of global expansion,” Vélez told Reuters at the time.

In November, it was reported that digital banks, including Nubank, led Brazilian banks’ profitability improvements during the first half of 2024.

The director of supervision of Brazil’s central bank, Ailton de Aquino, said that digital banks have a “robust” credit model and that their evolution reflected the central bank’s efforts to promote innovation and competition.