Cristina Junqueira

Cristina Junqueira is a Brazilian banking executive and one of the founders of Nubank, a financial technology company.[1] She is Brazil's second self-made woman billionaire.[2] Also known as Brazil’s Wonderwoman of Finance, and one of the first female fintech billionaires. As a co-founder of NuBank, she has led the company's policy on inclusivity programs and fought to increase female representation in both tech and finance. Junaqueira is currently the CEO of NuBank Brazil and was named amongst Fintech.’s top 10 leaders in fintech in 2022. [3]

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

Early life and education

Born in Ribeirão Preto in São Paulo, Brazil, Junqueira moved to Rio de Janeiro as an infant.[4] Intending to study industrial engineering, Junqueira attended the Universidade de São Paulo.[4] Upon graduating, she accepted the role of an associate consultant at the Boston Consulting Group.[4] As she worked, Junqueira obtained her master's degree in economic and financial modeling at the same college.[5] Shortly after this, in 2007, she attended the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, where she earned her MBA.[6][4]

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.[7] She also worked at LuizaCred, the financial services unit of Brazilian retailer Magazine Luiza.[8]

Nubank

The idea behind Nubank was inspired soon after Junqueira realized that she was only "making the rich richer".[8][9] She was introduced to David Vélez, who had experience as a venture capitalist under Sequoia Capital. He also had growing frustrations in regards to Brazil's banking system. With their shared frustrations in mind, 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.[6]

Nubank filed for an IPO in December 2021 and became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.[10][11]

Awards and recognition

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.[12]

Personal life

Junqueira is married and has three children.[10][13]

References
  1. "Fed-Up Banker Quit for a Startup, and Now She's a Billionaire". Bloomberg.com. 2021-12-08. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  2. Haverstock, Eliza. "Brazil's Nubank Cofounder Cristina Junqueira No Longer A Billionaire As Nu Holdings Stock Cools". Forbes. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  3. Pearson. "Shaping the industry: The top 10 Fintech leaders 2022". Fintech. Fintech. Retrieved 12 April 2023.
  4. England, Joanna (2022-05-09). "Nubank's Cristina Junqueira and Brazil's Banking Revolution". fintechmagazine.com. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  5. Suno Research. "Cristina Junqueira: conheça a cofundadora do Nubank". Suno. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  6. "Cristina Junqueira, Nubank Co-Founder: Brazil's Wonder Woman of Fintech". Capital Finance International. 2020-10-26. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  7. McCarthy, Marcella (2021-06-14). "One woman's drive to make a neobank as magical as Disney". TechCrunch. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  8. "Cristina Junqueira | 2020 Most Powerful Women International". Fortune. Retrieved 2022-04-24.
  9. Corp, Eddie (2021-12-09). "Who is Cristina Junqueira, the first multimillionaire in Latin America who founded a company from scratch". Digis Mak. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
  10. Hinchliffe, Emma (2021-12-13). "Nubank cofounder Cristina Junqueira achieves an IPO first". Fortune. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  11. Hou, Felicia (2021-12-09). "Nubank's co-founder Cristina Junqueira talks inflation concerns, serving the underserved after blockbuster IPO". Fortune. Retrieved 2023-02-08.
  12. "The Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst List". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2023-07-19.
  13. Mendes, Luiz Henrique (2021-12-09). "Nubank's Cristina Junqueira dribbles past banker stereotypes". valorinternational (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2023-02-08.
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