Velez is a co-founder and chief executive officer of Nu Holdings, a digital bank in Latin America. The Sao Paulo-based financial services company provides credit cards and digital bank accounts as well as life insurance. Nubank operates in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia and has about 131 million customers.
Velez's fortune is derived from his stake in Nubank, which went public in December 2021. It provides financial products in Brazil, Mexico and Colombia to about 131 million customers, according to its website. Nubank became Latin America's most valuable startup in 2021, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Velez holds an 18% stake with his wife and through holding vehicle Rua California, according to the 2024 annual report.
The financial services startup was backed by investors including Berkshire Hathaway, Sequoia Capital and SoftBank Group Corp.'s Latin America's funds. Through a structure of super-voting shares, Velez holds about 74% of Nubank's voting rights, according to its 2025 annual report.
A spokesperson for Nubank declined to comment on Velez's wealth.
David Velez was born in Colombia in 1981 to family that owned a small button factory. His family left for Costa Rica when he was eight years old, just as drug-related cartel violence in his home nation intensified.
In 2001, he began studying management science and engineering at Stanford University and briefly worked at Goldman Sachs in 2004 before a two-year stint at Morgan Stanley as an analyst.
He moved to Brazil in 2008 while working at private equity firm General Atlantic. Velez, Cristina Junqueira and Edward Wible founded Nubank in 2013, with the backing of another of Velez's former employers, Sequoia Capital. By 2018, the fintech company had become a unicorn after a $150 million funding round.
In June 2021, Berkshire Hathaway agreed to purchase a $500 million stake in Nubank, valuing it $30 billion. Later that year, the firm filed to become public, seeking around $40 billion in market value.