Latin America’s most valuable fintech startup Nubank launches personal loans for Mexican market

Nubank, Latin America’s most valuable fintech startup, announced on Tuesday its entry into the Mexican market with the launch of personal loans that aim to boost the company’s array of financial services in the region’s second-largest economy.

In a statement, the company said the offerings from the digital bank’s Mexican arm, known as Nu Mexico, will enable customers to secure personal loans in under five minutes using its platform.

The fintech startup also revealed that the service will first undergo a testing phase, available exclusively to employees, before its full-scale launch in the coming months. This announcement comes on the heels of the bank’s introduction of savings accounts in Mexico earlier this year, an endeavor that garnered over one million users within just one month.

“Around 20% of the adult population connected by smartphones in Mexico has already applied to a Nu product. We look forward to continuing to expand our footprint in the country,” said the fintech’s Mexico head, Ivan Canales.

Nubank disclosed a record-breaking revenue of $1.9 billion for the second quarter in its report last month, crediting this achievement to a significant influx of new customers.

Nubank executives also told Reuters last month that the company recognized Mexico as the market with the greatest growth potential, and the company is gearing up for an accelerated product rollout in the coming year. It’s also worth noting that Nubank listed its shares in New York in late 2021, and the stock has seen a remarkable increase of nearly 80% in value year-to-date.

The news of the launch comes a little over a year after Brazil’s Nubank raised $650 in funding to fuel its expansion in Mexico and Colombia. The funds come from a three-year local-currency line of credit financed by Morgan Stanley, Citi, Goldman Sachs, and HSBC.

Founded in 2013 by CEO David Vélez, Junqueira, and CTO Edward Wible, Nubank began its internationalization strategy three years ago with the launch of its operation in Mexico in 2019 and later in Colombia in 2020. Today, it has around 54 million customers at a regional level and is already the largest credit card issuer in Mexico.

Nubank Founders