Internet group Tencent invested $180m in Nu Pagamentos, the Brazil-based operator of digital bank Nubank, yesterday at a valuation reported by The Information to be about $4bn.
The deal consists of $90m of new shares being issued to Tencent and $90m of secondary share purchases from existing shareholders, though Nubank did not reveal the identity of the sellers.
Founded in 2013, Nubank has created a no-charge credit card that has been requested by 20 million consumers and issued to some 5 million people so far.
More than 2.5 million customers have opened digital accounts on Nubank’s platform, and it received regulatory approval to begin issuing loans in January this year.
Although the company did not strictly need the money, co-founder and CEO David Velez told TechCrunch it hopes to learn from Tencent’s financial activities in China, while Tencent will in turn gain knowledge of operating a card system.
Nubank has now raised more than $500m in total, including $150m in a March 2018 series E round led by DST Global that included Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, QED Investors, Dragoneer Investment Group and Thrive Capital, reportedly valuing it at $2bn.
DST Global also led the company’s $80m series D round in 2016, investing alongside Sequoia Capital, Tiger Global Management, Founders Fund and QED, after it had received $52m from Founders Fund, Sequoia, Tiger Global and Kaszek Ventures in late 2015.
Sequoia Capital led a $14.3m round for Nubank in 2014 that also featured Kaszek Ventures and angel investor Nicolas Berggruen, before Tiger Global led its $30m series B, which was also backed by Sequoia Capital, Kaszek Ventures and QED Investors, the following year.
Image courtesy of Nubank.
