David Velez.

David Velez is the Co-Founder and CEO of Nubank (Nu Holdings), the largest digital bank outside of Asia with over 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

While Nubank is headquartered in Brazil, its significant U.S. operations and Silicon Valley investor base make it relevant to American fintech entrepreneurship. Velez, a Colombian entrepreneur educated at Stanford, founded Nubank in 2013 to challenge the highly concentrated Latin American banking market dominated by five large banks charging some of the highest fees in the world. Nubank's mobile-first, no-fee approach resonated with millions of unbanked and underbanked consumers, growing the company into a multibillion-dollar financial services platform. Nubank went public on the NYSE in 2021 at a valuation of approximately $50 billion-making it the largest financial institution in Latin America by market cap. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested $1 billion in Nubank before the IPO. Velez's creation of the most successful digital bank in the Western Hemisphere, backed by Silicon Valley capital and talent, represents one of the most important cross-border fintech stories.