Nubank won by offering an app-first, no-annual-fee credit card to Brazilians badly served by traditional banks, then deepening each relationship with credit, deposits, insurance and investments. In Q2 2026 it reached 139 million customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia and passed $1 billion of quarterly net income for the first time. Its moat is the primary banking relationship.
Key takeaways
- Q2 2026: 139 million customers, including almost 118 million in Brazil, 15.8 million in Mexico and more than 5 million in Colombia.
- Nubank passed $1 billion of quarterly net income for the first time in Q2 2026.
- The free-to-join card is the hook. Profit comes from selling each customer more over time: classic land and expand.
- Once your salary lands in Nu, switching banks is a hassle. Primary status is the moat.
David Vélez went to open a bank account in São Paulo and came away feeling the bank had done him a favor.
Another day, a security guard patted him down because his laptop set off the metal detector. They thought he had a gun.
Vélez had been sent to Brazil by his employer, Sequoia, to look for deals. What he found was a huge, profitable banking industry with terrible service. The HBS study I quoted in the book put average credit card interest in Brazil at 272.42 percent. Lots of banks. Very few moats.
So he built one. That's how I opened Chapter 5 of The Subscription Playbook.
In 2022 Nubank was worth $30 billion and had a $750 million check from Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway. In 2026 it's making more than $1 billion of profit a quarter.
The numbers: Q2 2026
| Metric | Q2 2026 (reported 13 Aug 2026) |
|---|---|
| Total customers | 139 million (about 4 million added in the quarter) |
| Brazil | Almost 118 million |
| Mexico | 15.8 million (16 million by July) |
| Colombia | More than 5 million |
| Quarterly net income | More than $1 billion, for the first time |
| Gross revenue | Nearly $5.9 billion (per co-founder Cristina Junqueira) |
| New in the quarter | Full banking license in Mexico; launch of "Croma" premium offer |
For context, the book's figures: $30 billion valuation and a $750 million Berkshire Hathaway investment, eight years after founding. Twenty percent of Nubank's first customers had never had a credit card.
What did Nubank do?
It started with the one product it was allowed to sell.
In 2013 Brazil didn't let foreign-owned companies open banks, and Vélez wasn't Brazilian. So Nubank launched a credit card, and made it the opposite of everything Brazilians hated about their banks:
- No annual fee.
- Managed in a free mobile app, with no branches and no queues.
- Credit limits from about $50 a month, useful in a country where the minimum wage was around $200 a month.
- Its own credit score, so people with no banking history could qualify.
- Bright purple branding. People told Vélez he was mad. Customers loved it.
Then it did the part that makes the money. Once a customer trusted the card, Nubank sold them the next thing: more credit, deposits, insurance, investments. Each product made the relationship deeper.
That's land and expand. Land with an "attractive initial offer," then earn the right to sell more.
How deep is your moat?
Score your business on Marketing, One, Audience, Toughness and Switching with the free MOATS Scorecard, and see which factor Nubank would build next.
Why did it work?
Two moat factors, stacked.
Toughness: an offer the incumbents couldn't copy
In the MOATS framework, T is Toughness: a sustainable competitive advantage, high margins and profit that grows with scale.
Brazil's big banks could have dropped their fees. But their whole model depended on those fees and on branch networks Nubank never had to pay for. Copying Nubank would have meant cannibalizing themselves. That's the best kind of competitive advantage: one your rivals can see and still can't match.
Switching: becoming the primary bank
S is Switching. Once your salary lands in your Nu account, your bills come out of it and your savings sit in it, moving banks is a weekend of paperwork. Most people never bother.
Nubank's moat isn't the card. It's being the primary relationship, the first app a customer opens about money.
Why this is a subscription story
Nubank isn't a subscription in the Netflix sense. But as I wrote in the book, credit ties customers "to a recurring revenue model as they repay what they've borrowed." The principle is the same as any membership: a low-friction way in, a relationship that renews itself every month, and more value (and revenue) the longer it lasts.
What the book said in 2022
Nubank was my headline moat example. I told the founding story: the bank that treated Vélez like a suspect, interest rates "many multiples above what people in neighboring countries pay," and a purple, fee-free card built for the people the banks ignored.
I said everything Nubank did differently "widened its moat and made its subscription offering even more appealing."
What's happened since
The moat got wider, and it crossed borders.
By Q2 2026 Nubank had 139 million customers, with nearly 118 million in Brazil, and had grown in Mexico (15.8 million) and Colombia (more than 5 million). It secured a full banking license in Mexico, becoming that country's largest digital bank. It passed $1 billion of quarterly net income for the first time.
And it moved upmarket with Croma, a premium offer for customers who want more. That's the top tier on a good-better-best ladder, built only once the base was loyal.
For another fintech that widened its moat by adding products on the same rails, read how Stripe's moat got wider.
What you can steal from Nubank
You're not starting a bank. You don't need to.
- Lead with a "no-brainer" product that kills the most hated fee or friction in your industry. No call-out fee. No lock-in contract. No setup charge. Find the thing customers complain about and remove it.
- Earn "primary" status. Be where the customer starts each day or each job: their go-to supplier, the first number they call, the app they open. Then cross-sell.
- Sell the second product only after the first one earns trust. Nubank didn't push insurance on day one.
- Add a premium tier for your best customers once the base is loyal, as Nubank did with Croma.
- Track expansion, not just new customers. Measure how much revenue per customer grows each year. My guide to expansion revenue shows how, and the NRR calculator does the math.
Worked example: an accounting firm, Nubank-style
A firm lands 100 small-business clients on a fixed $150-a-month compliance package with no setup fee: $15,000 a month. After a year, 30 of them add a $200-a-month advisory and cash-flow service. Monthly revenue rises to $21,000, and average revenue per client goes from $150 to $210 (up 40%) without a single new client. (Illustrative numbers.)
Your next step
Write down the single most annoying fee or hassle in your industry. Then ask: could I remove it profitably if I made it up on what customers buy second?
If the answer is yes, you have your landing offer. For more examples of businesses that built moats this way, see competitive moat examples.
Frequently asked questions
How many customers does Nubank have?
Nu Holdings reported 139 million customers at the end of Q2 2026, after adding about 4 million in the quarter. Almost 118 million were in Brazil, 15.8 million in Mexico (16 million by July 2026) and more than 5 million in Colombia, according to its 13 August 2026 results.
How does Nubank make money if its card has no annual fee?
The no-fee card gets customers in the door. Nubank then earns from interest on credit, from deposits it can lend, and from selling insurance, investments and other financial products to the same customers. The more products each customer uses, the more each relationship is worth. That's land and expand, applied to banking.
Is Nubank profitable?
Yes. In Q2 2026 Nubank passed $1 billion of quarterly net income for the first time, according to Nu Holdings' results. Co-founder Cristina Junqueira said in a LinkedIn post that gross revenue in the quarter reached nearly $5.9 billion. It is listed on the New York Stock Exchange as NU.
What is Nubank Croma?
Croma is a premium offer Nubank launched in 2026 to take its primary-banking playbook upmarket, to wealthier customers who expect more service and benefits. It's the top tier on top of a mass-market base, the same good-better-best logic a small business uses when it adds a premium plan for its best customers.
Who founded Nubank?
Nubank was founded in 2013 in São Paulo by David Vélez, a former investor who'd been sent to Brazil by Sequoia, with co-founders including Cristina Junqueira. Because Brazil didn't allow foreign-owned companies to open banks at the time, it started with a credit card instead of a bank account.
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Robert Coorey, MBA
Robert is the author of The Subscription Playbook and Feed a Starving Crowd and a Director at BPAG Accountants in Sydney. More about Robert.
Sources
- Nu Holdings, second quarter 2026 financial results (13 Aug 2026)
- Nu Holdings, first quarter 2026 financial results (14 May 2026)
- Cristina Junqueira, LinkedIn post on Q2 2026 results (Aug 2026)
Facts and prices checked 27 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.