Brazilian fintech firm Nubank made its market debut Thursday on the New York Inventory Trade, going public underneath the ticker image “NU.” Shares opened at $11.25 apiece after pricing 289 million shares at $9 apiece on Wednesday, the highest finish of its anticipated vary of $8-$9 per share. The corporate, ranked No. 40 on this yr’s CNBC Disruptor 50 listing, raised $2.6 billion at an implied valuation of $41.4 billion.

Nubank launched in 2013 with a purple no-fee bank card in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a rustic infamous for its high-fee, low-tech banking system. Lower than ten years later, the fintech firm has survived a recession and a pandemic, rising with 48 million clients throughout Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, and a valuation increased than Chime, Robinhood, or SoFi.

“We have been rising very quick up till the pandemic, however folks nonetheless had some questions on digital banking … I believe it was nonetheless scary for lots of people,” Colombia-born Nubank CEO and co-founder David Vélez mentioned Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

“The pandemic, in a approach, pressured that habits to vary amongst many of the inhabitants, as a result of branches have been closed and it wasn’t even an choice,” he mentioned. “Folks began making an attempt us and realized we have been a greater choice — we cost no charges, higher buyer expertise all in your smartphone, then all of a sudden we began seeing folks of their 60s, of their 70s, of their 80s, folks all throughout Brazil, in several municipalities, begin utilizing us.”

To Vélez, the chance was apparent: the monetary ecosystem in Brazil was inefficient and inaccessible, with 5 banks controlling over 80% of the nation’s belongings, annual bank card rates of interest operating as much as 300%, and a 3rd of the inhabitants unbanked. Based on Nubank, bank branches solely exist in 60% of Brazil’s cities, however a digital platform might assist clients no matter location. The corporate additionally estimates that it has supplied the primary bank card or checking account to roughly 5.1 million folks as of September 30.

Earlier this yr, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made a $500 million investment within the mother or father firm of Nubank. With further buy-in from backers like Ribbit, Tencent, Invesco, and Vélez’s former employer, enterprise capital agency Sequoia, Nubank is pushing on-line banking growth throughout the LatAm area. Thus far, the corporate estimates that its no-fee construction has saved its clients over $2 billion.

“We do not assume the banking department will survive the way in which it’s,” Vélez mentioned. “It’s too pricey to serve the vast majority of customers, particularly in rising markets [like Latin America] the place you might have a really excessive price of operations, so a whole lot of that bodily infrastructure will in all probability disappear … many of the suppliers of economic companies 5-10 years from now will likely be digital firms that will likely be specializing in the client, could have a whole lot of effectivity, and be reducing charges and rates of interest for everyone.”

Enterprise buyers poured $9.3 billion into Latin America within the first six months of 2021, in contrast with $5.3 billion all of final yr, in accordance with a report from CBInsights. In September, SoftBank Group mentioned it is going to commit $3 billion to kickstart a fund centered on investing in start-ups in Latin America using applied sciences like synthetic intelligence and scout offers in e-commerce and digital monetary companies in addition to blockchain tasks. It first launched a LatAm-focused fund in 2019.

The current downdraft in shares of high-valued, high-growth, money-losing companies has led to an outsized selloff in companies that hit the market in 2021. CNBC lately recognized 55 tech firms that debuted within the U.S. this yr by means of an IPO, particular goal acquisition firm, or direct itemizing. Solely considered one of them — GlobalFoundries — is lower than 20% off its excessive worth.

In the meantime, the Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO), which invests in firms which have gone public within the final two years, has tumbled greater than 12% prior to now three months, in comparison with an almost 5% achieve for the S&P 500.

Nubank shares got here down slightly from their first-trade spike and have been buying and selling increased by roughly 15% within the early afternoon on Thursday.

Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have been the lead underwriters for Nubank’s providing.