Cristina Junqueira

Cristina Junqueira
Born	Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil
Known for	Co-founder of Nubank

Cristina Junqueira, co-founder of Nubank, is an entrepreneur in the fintech space. With a background in engineering, she transitioned from management consulting to supervising a credit card portfolio at a major Brazilian bank. She co-founded Nubank, which is now the world's largest neobank, with a focus on providing digital financial services through a user-friendly app, in 2013. Nubank serves over 53 million customers across Latin America and is one of the world's largest digital-banking platforms. Junqueira has been a strong advocate for gender inclusion in the workplace. As cofounder of Nubank, she has led the company's policy on inclusivity programs and fought to increase female representation in both tech and finance. Junqueira is currently the CEO of Nubank Brazil and owns nearly 3% of Nubank.

Early life and education

Junqueira was born in Ribeirão Preto in São Paulo, Brazil, as the oldest child in a family of four sisters. After moving with her family as an infant, Junqueira grew up in Rio de Janeiro. She moved to São Paulo to attend the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and graduated with a degree in industrial engineering in 2004. Cristina Junqueira began her career as an associate consultant at Boston Consulting Group while pursuing a Master's in economic and financial modeling at the Universidade de São Paulo. In 2007, she earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management in Chicago. Upon returning to Brazil, she joined Unibanco, leading its small and medium-sized business sector. After Unibanco merged with Itaú, she became a portfolio manager, contributing to one of the largest private banking entities in Brazil. She simultaneously pursued and obtained her master's degree in economic and financial modeling at USP by 2006. She then moved to the United States to attend Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and earned her MBA in 2008.

Career

After obtaining her MBA, Junqueira returned to Brazil and worked as the head of the small-and-medium-sized enterprises sector at Unibanco, the largest private banking group in the country. The next year, a merger took place between Unibanco and Itaú, the second-largest private banking group in Brazil, and Junqueira was offered the position of portfolio manager. Junqueira later resigned from the company. After the merger, Junqueira transferred positions and served as the Head of Marketing and Products at Luiza Cred, a credit card provider owned by Itaú Unibanco, from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, Junqueira became the credit card portfolio manager for Itaúcard.

Nubank

The idea behind Nubank was inspired as Junqueira realized she was only "making the rich richer" while working for Itaú Unibanco and its subsidiaries. At the time, five banks controlled 80% of the Brazilian market, and it was standard for customers to deal with huge fees and extremely high-interest rates while the banks earned huge profits.

After five years at Itaú, Cristina Junqueira sought to revolutionize its offerings by proposing commission-free credit cards and improved client communication. Her ideas, dismissed by Itaú and reflective of the industry's broader neglect of financial inclusion, prompted her bold decision to leave her role as a product manager. Shortly after, she met David Vélez of Sequoia Capital, a like-minded critic of Latin America's banking culture. Together, they envisioned a transformative banking model, later joined by Edward Wible, and began raising funds for what became Nubank.

In 2013, she quit her job at Itaú “armed with a deep understanding of the country’s banking system”. She was introduced to venture capitalist David Vélez, “who wanted to start a banking company that would outcompete the other Brazilian banks by utilizing technology, charging lower fees, and providing greater convenience”. He also had growing frustrations with regard to Brazil's banking system. Junqueira and Vélez decided to partner together and begin a digital banking venture.

Junqueira and Vélez decided upon “Nubank” as the name to represent their venture. In addition to “nu” phonetically sounding similar to the word “new”, it means “nude” in Portuguese. This is representative of the founders’ values in creating a transparent firm.

She briefly became a billionaire when Nubank debuted–as Nu Holdings–on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021 at a valuation exceeding $50 billion. By late 2023, Nubank had surpassed 90 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, cementing its status as one of the world’s largest and fastest-growing digital financial institutions. With a valuation of $23 billion, Nubank continues to expand its market share in Latin America, challenging industry giants like Itaú for dominance.

Awards and recognition

She is Brazil's second self-made woman billionaire. She was recognized by Fortune's 40 under 40 list and featured in fintech magazines as one of Latin America's prominent startup founders. In 2021, Junqueira was selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst. As part of the program, she attended the annual New Economy Forum held in Singapore, and the Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst Retreat that same year. In 2022, Junqueira was named amongst fintech's top 10 leaders.

Personal life

Junqueira is married to Rubens Pereira. They have been together since 2006 and have three daughters. Junqueira commented on raising daughters and being a positive role model, saying, “I want my daughters to grow up in a world where they can dream of being whoever they want to be—and you can’t dream of what you can’t see.”