David Vélez

Template:Infobox person

David Vélez Osorno (born November 15, 1981) is a Colombian-American banker, entrepreneur, and investor who serves as the founder and chief executive officer of Nubank, Latin America's largest digital bank. Under his leadership, Nubank grew from a startup operating out of a small São Paulo apartment into a financial institution serving over 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, making it the largest neobank in the world by customer count.

After Nubank's successful initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021, which valued the company at approximately $45 billion, Vélez became Colombia's richest person, surpassing longtime leader Luis Carlos Sarmiento on the Forbes billionaires list. As of January 2025, his net worth is estimated at $10.7 billion, primarily derived from his approximately 20% stake in Nubank.

In August 2021, Vélez and his wife Mariel Reyes joined Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetimes. The couple subsequently launched VélezReyes+, a philanthropic platform focused on education, entrepreneurship, and social impact across Latin America.

Early life

David Vélez was born on November 15, 1981, in Medellín, Colombia, a city that during his childhood was synonymous with the violence of drug cartels led by Pablo Escobar. His father, who co-owned a button factory with ten siblings, came from an entrepreneurial family where owning a business was the norm rather than the exception. This environment of small-scale entrepreneurship shaped Vélez's early understanding of business and risk-taking.

The violence that plagued Medellín in the late 1980s directly affected his family. One of Vélez's uncles was kidnapped, an experience that traumatized the family and highlighted the dangers of remaining in Colombia during that period. When Vélez was nine years old, his family made the difficult decision to leave Colombia, relocating to Costa Rica to escape the cartel violence.

In Costa Rica, Vélez completed much of his primary and secondary education, growing up in a safer but more modest environment than his early childhood in Medellín. The experience of being an immigrant and starting over in a new country would later inform his understanding of building something from nothing - a perspective that proved valuable when founding Nubank.

One particularly formative childhood memory from Colombia involved leaving a shopping center moments before it was bombed. The close brush with violence reinforced the precariousness of life in Medellín during the cartel era and the wisdom of his family's decision to emigrate.

Education

Stanford University (Undergraduate)

Vélez gained admission to Stanford University in California, one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, where he pursued a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science and Engineering. He graduated in 2004 with a degree that combined technical engineering skills with business management principles.

At Stanford, Vélez was exposed to Silicon Valley's culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. The university's proximity to venture capital firms and technology startups planted seeds that would later flourish when he founded Nubank.

Early career and MBA

After completing his undergraduate studies, Vélez began his career in finance. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2004, working in the investment bank's prestigious programs. He later moved to Morgan Stanley as an analyst, gaining experience in investment banking and financial markets.

His career path subsequently led him to General Atlantic, a private equity firm, and then to Sequoia Capital, where he served as a partner overseeing Latin American investments. At Sequoia, Vélez gained firsthand experience identifying and evaluating investment opportunities in emerging markets - knowledge that would prove essential when he returned to Latin America to found his own company.

Stanford GSB (MBA)

Vélez returned to Stanford to pursue an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, graduating in 2012. The MBA program reinforced his business acumen and expanded his network within the Silicon Valley investment community. During his time at Stanford GSB, he developed relationships with mentors and fellow students who would later become early supporters of Nubank.

Founding Nubank

The frustrating bank account

The inspiration for Nubank came from a personal frustration. When Vélez moved to São Paulo, Brazil, in 2012 to work on Latin American investments for Sequoia Capital, he attempted to open a bank account at one of Brazil's major traditional banks. The experience proved nightmarishly bureaucratic - requiring numerous documents, multiple branch visits, and endless paperwork for what should have been a simple transaction.

For someone who had worked in the sophisticated financial services sector of the United States, the Brazilian banking experience felt absurdly outdated. Banks charged fees for everything, offered poor customer service, and seemed more interested in extracting value from customers than serving them. Vélez recognized that Brazilian banks, protected by limited competition and regulatory barriers, had grown complacent.

Rather than simply complaining, Vélez saw an opportunity. Technology could democratize financial services, eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy, and provide banking to millions of Brazilians who were underserved by traditional institutions.

Founding in 2013

In May 2013, at age 31, Vélez co-founded Nubank in São Paulo with two partners: Cristina Junqueira, a Brazilian banker who had worked at Itaú Unibanco, and Edward Wible, an American engineer from Princeton. The company started with a simple premise: use technology to create a better banking experience.

Nubank operated from a small house in the Pinheiros neighborhood of São Paulo. The founders worked long hours, with Vélez personally involved in everything from product development to customer service. Cristina Junqueira, who was pregnant with her first child during the company's Series A funding round, affectionately referred to her daughter and Nubank as "twins" born in the same period.

The company's first product was a no-fee credit card managed entirely through a smartphone app - revolutionary in a market where banks charged annual fees averaging $200 and provided clunky, outdated digital interfaces.

Surviving and thriving

Building a fintech company in Brazil meant navigating an entrenched banking oligopoly that did not welcome disruption. Traditional banks, which controlled more than 80% of the market, allegedly conspired to shut Nubank down. The company faced regulatory challenges, competitive pressure, and the skepticism that any startup threatening established interests encounters.

Vélez later reflected that disrupting Brazil's banking sector was "a brave move in a culture where organised crime and brutal business practices often result in personal harm." The risk was not merely financial - it was potentially personal. Nevertheless, Vélez persevered, driven by conviction that customers deserved better.

Nubank survived Brazil's 2015-2016 recession, various corruption scandals that rocked the country, and ultimately the COVID-19 pandemic. Each crisis that could have killed the company instead made it stronger, as customers increasingly embraced digital banking.

Growth and IPO

Scaling to 100 million customers

Under Vélez's leadership, Nubank experienced explosive growth. The company expanded its product offerings beyond credit cards to include checking accounts, savings accounts, personal loans, insurance products, and investment services. It launched operations in Mexico in 2019 and Colombia in 2020.

By December 2021, Nubank served over 40 million customers - a number that has since grown to over 100 million across its three markets, making it the largest neobank in the world by customer count.

NYSE listing

On December 9, 2021, Nubank (through its holding company Nu Holdings Ltd.) debuted on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "NU". The IPO priced at $9 per share, valuing the company at approximately $41.5 billion. On its first day of trading, the stock rose to give Nubank a valuation exceeding $45 billion, making it one of the largest bank IPOs in history and Latin America's most valuable financial institution at that moment.

The IPO transformed Vélez into one of the wealthiest people in the world. His approximately 20% stake in the company briefly made him worth more than $10 billion, surpassing Luis Carlos Sarmiento to become Colombia's richest person - a remarkable achievement for someone who had fled the country as a child.

Personal life

Marriage and family

David Vélez is married to Mariel Reyes Milk, a Peruvian-American economist and entrepreneur. Mariel worked at the World Bank for ten years before transitioning to entrepreneurship and philanthropy. The couple has four children, with their youngest born in 2022.

Together, David and Mariel have built both a family and a shared vision for philanthropy. Mariel launched a startup focused on teaching computer programming to vulnerable women in Brazil, particularly Black and transgender women - populations systematically excluded from technology careers.

How they met

Specific details about how David and Mariel met have not been extensively publicized, though both have connections to Stanford University and the world of international development and finance. They share backgrounds as Latin Americans who built careers in the United States before focusing their energies on improving their home region.

Lifestyle

Despite his substantial wealth, Vélez has emphasized that he and his wife "don't come from wealthy families" and "never lived in an environment of luxury." The rapid transformation of Nubank stock into billions of dollars worth of wealth "caught them completely by surprise," prompting serious conversations about their responsibilities.

The family resides in São Paulo, Brazil, where Nubank is headquartered. Vélez maintains Colombian citizenship and has expressed continuing interest in his home country's development, though he has been critical of policies he believes harm economic growth.

Philanthropy

The Giving Pledge

In August 2021, David Vélez and Mariel Reyes became the youngest signatories to date of Warren Buffett and Bill Gates's Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth during their lifetimes. At the time, Vélez was 39 years old.

In their pledge letter, the couple reflected on their unexpected fortune: "One day, about a year ago, we started realizing that that stock is worth a lot of money, and that created a big conversation about what do we want to do with this?"

The decision was informed by their shared values about wealth and social responsibility. Neither came from wealthy backgrounds, and both felt obligated to use their resources to address systemic inequalities in Latin America.

VélezReyes+

In 2022, David and Mariel launched VélezReyes+, a philanthropic platform dedicated to creating opportunities throughout Latin America. The foundation focuses on three primary areas:

Education: Supporting initiatives that improve access to quality education across the region
Entrepreneurship: Helping underserved entrepreneurs access capital, mentorship, and resources
Social impact: Funding projects that address systemic inequality

In August 2023, Vélez sold $191 million worth of Nubank stock, with proceeds directed to the foundation's activities. This represented one of the largest single charitable contributions by a Latin American billionaire.

Business philosophy

Vélez has articulated several key principles that guide his approach to business:

"Position yourself in the scarcity"

At Stanford GSB, Vélez has shared his philosophy of career and business building: "Position yourself in the scarcity, not in the oversupply." He advises entrepreneurs and professionals to seek out markets or capabilities where there is unmet demand rather than competing in crowded spaces.

This principle guided his decision to return to Latin America rather than remain in Silicon Valley. While Stanford graduates typically competed for positions at established tech companies, Vélez recognized that Latin America lacked sophisticated fintech entrepreneurs - a scarcity he could fill.

Customer obsession

Nubank has cultivated what observers describe as "rabid customer love." The company's focus on customer experience - simple products, no hidden fees, responsive service - differentiated it from traditional banks that treated customers as captive revenue sources.

Long-term thinking

Vélez has emphasized patience and long-term vision. Rather than optimizing for short-term profits, Nubank invested in growth and customer acquisition, accepting losses for years before achieving profitability.

Controversies and criticism

Colombian usury rate restrictions

Vélez has been publicly critical of Colombia's "tasa de usura" (usury rate cap), which limits the interest rates financial institutions can charge. He has stated that due to this restriction, Nubank can only approve credit to 15 out of every 100 Colombians who request it, compared to much higher approval rates in Brazil and Mexico.

Critics of Vélez's position argue that usury caps protect vulnerable borrowers from predatory lending, while Vélez contends that the restrictions exclude millions of Colombians from accessing formal credit, pushing them toward informal lenders who charge far higher rates.

US-Colombia tensions

In October 2025, Vélez warned about the impact of diplomatic tensions between the United States and Colombia on foreign investment. He stated that "any investor seeing Colombia today and opening the newspapers would run away when seeing these types of fights," referring to political conflicts between the two governments.

This public criticism of Colombian government policy generated both support from business leaders and criticism from those who viewed it as inappropriate interference in political matters.

Awards and recognition

Forbes Billionaires List - Ranked #236 worldwide (2025)
Colombia's Richest Person - First achieved after Nubank IPO (2021)
Giving Pledge - Youngest signatory at time of commitment (2021)
Simón Bolívar Order of Democracy - Conferred by the Congress of the Republic of Colombia at the rank of Grand Knight (September 2024)
Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst - Recognition for transformative business leadership
Fortune 40 Under 40 - Listed among influential young business leaders

References

External links