David Vélez

Background

David Vélez is a Colombian-born entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist who founded Nubank, the world’s largest digital bank by number of customers ¹. Born in Medellín in 1981, he grew up in an entrepreneurial family — his father owned a button factory and all of his father’s siblings built their own businesses ². When he was eight, his family relocated to Costa Rica as drug-related cartel violence intensified in Colombia ².

Vélez attended a German-language prep school in Costa Rica, graduating as valedictorian ². He earned a Bachelor of Science in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University, followed by an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2012 ^{3 4}.

After graduating, Vélez began his career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs, then worked at Morgan Stanley and later in growth equity at General Atlantic ^{3 4}. From January 2011 to March 2013, he was a partner at Sequoia Capital, where he led the firm’s Latin American investments group ^{4 5}. Sequoia had recruited him to evaluate whether to open a Brazil office; when that effort was abandoned due to a shortage of computer science talent in the country, Vélez pivoted to entrepreneurship ⁵.

In May 2013, at age 31, Vélez co-founded Nubank in São Paulo with Cristina Junqueira (formerly at Itaú) and Edward Wible, with seed funding from Sequoia Capital and Kaszek Ventures ^{1 5}. In December 2021, he led Nubank through an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange via holding company Nu Holdings, which valued the company at approximately $45 billion on its first trading day ¹. As of 2024, Nubank serves over 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia ¹.

In the Forbes 2025 list, Vélez was ranked 236th worldwide with an estimated net worth of $10.7 billion ¹. In August 2021, he and his wife Mariel Reyes signed the Giving Pledge, committing to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes ⁶. In 2022, they launched VélezReyes+, a philanthropic platform focused on education, entrepreneurship, and social impact across Latin America ⁷. Reyes also founded {reprograma}, a nonprofit that trains underprivileged women in computer programming ⁶.

Stated Thesis

Vélez does not publicly articulate a formal angel investment thesis separate from his role at Nubank. However, his public statements and investment behavior suggest he backs founders solving fundamental problems in underserved markets — particularly in Latin American fintech and adjacent sectors.

In a Stanford GSB “View From The Top” talk, Vélez advised founders to operate where they have a competitive advantage, stating that in the US there is “an oversupply of good entrepreneurs” and that in Latin America there is “significant scarcity” ⁵. He has said that entrepreneurship is “effectively the biggest investment you’re going to do” and that he evaluates opportunities from an investor perspective ⁵.

On the Deep Purpose podcast with Harvard professor Ranjay Gulati, Vélez offered three points of advice for aspiring entrepreneurs: do your homework, be excited about the journey (not just the destination), and be willing to work really hard ⁸.

He has expressed optimism about the Latin American startup ecosystem but argues there is “still a lot of work to be done” ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 19 verified investments, Vélez’s angel portfolio reveals the following patterns:

Sector distribution (19 investments): - Fintech / neobanking / payments: 9 of 19 (47%) — Jeeves, Ajaib, Belvo, Capital Float/axio, Justos, Jupiter, Clerkie, Latitud, Nuvocargo (fintech + logistics) - Healthtech: 4 of 19 (21%) — Pipo Saúde, Carecode, Leona Health, Beep Saúde - Edtech / education / workforce: 2 of 19 (11%) — Galena, CoderHouse - Proptech: 1 of 19 (5%) — La Haus - Social commerce: 1 of 19 (5%) — Favo - Civic tech: 1 of 19 (5%) — Civic Marketplace - Insurtech: 1 of 19 (5%) — Justos (also classified as fintech)

Note: Some companies span multiple categories; percentages based on primary classification.

Geographic distribution (19 investments): - Brazil: 8 of 19 (42%) — Pipo Saúde, Galena, Favo, Carecode, Justos, Beep Saúde, Belvo (Mexico/Barcelona, strong Brazil ops), Latitud - India: 3 of 19 (16%) — Jupiter, Capital Float/axio, Carecode - Latin America (non-Brazil): 4 of 19 (21%) — La Haus (Colombia), Leona Health (Mexico/LatAm), Civic Marketplace, CoderHouse (Argentina) - US-Mexico: 1 of 19 (5%) — Nuvocargo - Southeast Asia: 1 of 19 (5%) — Ajaib (Indonesia) - United States: 1 of 19 (5%) — Clerkie - Global: 1 of 19 (5%) — Jeeves

Stage distribution (19 investments): Vélez invests across stages, from pre-seed (Carecode) through Series B (Jupiter) and growth (Capital Float, Beep Saúde). He appears willing to enter at any early stage, with a concentration in seed and Series A rounds (approximately 12 of 19, or 63%).

Check size: Signal by NFX reports his typical check size at $5,000-$50,000 with a target of $25,000 ¹⁰, consistent with pure angel investing alongside institutional leads.

Co-investor patterns: Vélez frequently co-invests alongside Kaszek Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z). These are all firms with strong Latin American or global fintech mandates, reflecting his network from his Sequoia tenure and Nubank’s investor base.

Founder profile patterns: Vélez tends to back founders addressing financial inclusion or consumer access problems in emerging markets. Several portfolio companies (Nubank, Jupiter, Ajaib, Capital Float) share the thesis of bringing financial services to underbanked populations. He also backs founders with strong operating backgrounds — Caroline Merin (Leona Health) was former COO of Rappi, Thomaz Srougi (Carecode) founded dr.consulta.

Notable patterns not in stated thesis: Vélez’s portfolio extends beyond Latin America into India and Southeast Asia, suggesting he views emerging-market fintech as a global opportunity, not just a regional one. His investment in Jupiter (Indian neobank) was explicitly framed as seeing similarities between Indian and Brazilian markets ¹¹.

Sample size caveat: This analysis is based on 19 verified investments. Multiple aggregators report 19-33 total portfolio companies ^{24 10}, meaning this represents approximately 58-100% of his known portfolio.

Portfolio

Note: This table represents approximately 18 of an estimated 19-33 total investments ^{24 10}.

In Their Own Words

On positioning in underserved markets: “You want to position yourself on the side of the market where there’s scarcity. In the US, there’s an oversupply of good entrepreneurs. Somebody with my experience and background is a commodity. In Latin America, there was significant scarcity.” — David Vélez, Stanford GSB “View From The Top” talk ⁵

On culture as a driver: “Culture is the driving force, there’s nothing more important, because culture allows you to hire people, people build products, products bring you customers.” — David Vélez, Wharton FinTech podcast ⁹

On delegation and trust: “You have to have phenomenal talent that you can delegate for. You have to trust the person… Let the person fail, be there close to that person and coach them and allow for some mistakes, but just step back and let this person that you hire do their role.” — David Vélez, 20VC podcast ²⁵

On the relationship between growth and quality: “A lot of the times quality gives you growth and growth actually gives you quality. They’re not necessarily a trade off, it’s not necessarily a zero sum game.” — David Vélez, 20VC podcast ²⁵

On mortality and philanthropy: “Life is finite: our mortality is uncontestable and we won’t be able to take with us any possessions to wherever we go next.” — David Vélez and Mariel Reyes, Giving Pledge letter ⁶

On urgency of deploying wealth: “There is extreme urgency to invest wealth now to help improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people.” — David Vélez and Mariel Reyes, Giving Pledge letter ⁶

On the transition from investor to founder: “I knew very clearly that I wanted to start a business at some point… I just didn’t feel qualified to be giving advice.” — David Vélez, 20VC podcast ²⁵

On customer obsession: “Behind the entire product and strategy that we’ve executed lies actually a very simple insight, which is people want to have business with companies that treat them well.” — David Vélez, Sequoia Capital Crucible Moments podcast ³⁰

On excelling at regulation: “We wanted to be the kid in the front row of the class that has all the answers and that gets an A plus in every test…We’re going to be regulated, but let’s excel at being regulated. Let’s see regulation as an area where we can develop comparative advantage.” — David Vélez, Sequoia Capital Crucible Moments podcast ³⁰

On supporting startup infrastructure: “There are huge opportunities in Latin America right now, but many great solutions will fail because of bureaucratic friction points. Latitud is building the infrastructure I wish I had when I started Nubank.” — David Vélez, Latitud seed round announcement, March 2022 ³³

On Jupiter and cross-market similarities: Vélez stated that “The Indian and Brazilian markets have many similarities and through this investment, we aim to support Jupiter in their growth path.” — David Vélez, on Nubank’s investment in Jupiter ¹¹

What Founders Say

Jitendra Gupta, founder of Jupiter (portfolio company), stated: “I’m excited to welcome Nubank as Jupiter’s partner in the new banking revolution. They have scaled up so well in Brazil, and we have a lot to learn from them. We’ll take best practices from them, and work together to build an even stronger focus on customer service and products. With this partnership, we will fast forward our execution journey.” — Jitendra Gupta, quoted in IBS Intelligence, August 2021 ²⁹

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the quote above. Vélez’s portfolio companies have not produced widely available testimonials specifically about his role as an angel investor, as distinct from Nubank’s corporate investments.

Connections

• Former Partner, Sequoia Capital (2011-2013) — led Latin American investments ⁴
• Giving Pledge signatory alongside Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and other billionaire philanthropists (2021) ⁶
• TIME 100 Most Influential People (2022) — profile written by Ivan Duque, then-President of Colombia ²⁶
• Co-founder, VélezReyes+ philanthropic platform with wife Mariel Reyes (2022) ⁷
• Frequent co-investor with Kaszek Ventures, Ribbit Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital across multiple deals ^{13 19 11 21}
• LP in Latitud Ventures, alongside Stelleo Tolda (former President of Mercado Libre), Henrique Dubugras (founder of Brex), and Sebastián Mejía (founder of Rappi) ²³

Sources