--- description: Find out why Nubank was selected for the inaugural list title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2021: Nubank image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf142bae4fd2a96/698a18e709208f18b3417e05/nubank-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 26, 2021 # Nubank Banking the unbanked by [Ciara Nugent](/author/ciara-nugent/) ## Ciara Nugent Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close  David Velez, founder and CEO of Nubank, left, and Cristina Junqueira, co-founder at NuBank, during an interview in São Paulo on Feb. 7, 2019. David Velez, founder and CEO of Nubank, left, and Cristina Junqueira, co-founder at NuBank, during an interview in São Paulo on Feb. 7, 2019.Rodrigo Capote—Bloomberg/Getty Images Brazil’s banking system has long faced criticisms of poor service, long wait times, labyrinthine bureaucracy and high fees. This—along with the prevalence of informal work—helps explain why some 45 million of Brazil’s 210 million people don’t have a bank account, making it almost impossible for them to access credit or a means of saving. Nubank, Latin America’s largest fintech company, is helping millions jump barriers by offering a variety of financial services via its smartphone app. Since the [pandemic](https://time.com/5837434/brazil-coronavirus-covid-19-latin-america/ "undefined") began, Nubank’s customer base in Brazil has more than doubled to 35 million as people avoided travel to crowded banks. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950068/nubank-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950068/nubank-2/"},"headline":"Nubank","datePublished":"2021-04-26T14:52:15.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:48:48.008Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950068/nubank-2/","keywords":["Lists","franchise","TIME100 Companies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf142bae4fd2a96/698a18e709208f18b3417e05/nubank-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ciara Nugent","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ciara-nugent/"}],"creator":"Ciara Nugent","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteaf142bae4fd2a96/698a18e709208f18b3417e05/nubank-time100-companies.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies/5950068/nubank-2/","name":"Nubank"}}]}] ```