Exclusive: Brazil's Nubank readies U.S. stock market listing - sources

By Joshua Franklin and Carolina Mandl

NEW YORK/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazilian digital bank Nubank has initiated preparations for a U.S. stock market listing that could come as early as this year, according to people familiar with the matter.

It would be one of the biggest stock market debuts of a South American company in recent years. Nubank was valued at around $25 billion in a January private fundraising round, more than doubling its valuation.

Nubank, whose legal name is Nu Pagamentos SA, is working with advisers about an initial public offering in New York, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the plans are confidential.

"We will probably do an IPO at some point in time, but it is not among our current priorities. We have the support of an amazing group of investors that share a long-term vision on our business," Nubank said in an emailed statement. It declined to comment specifically on the timeline of or preparations for its IPO.

Sao Paulo-based Nubank was founded in 2013 by David Velez, a Stanford-educated Colombian, as an issuer of a purple credit card with no annual fee.

Since then, it has gained more than 35 million clients, launched new financial products such as checking accounts and loans, and expanded throughout Latin America. Over the last seven years, it raised $1.2 billion in various funding rounds.

Nubank ended 2020 with a net loss of 230.2 million reais ($41.9 million), down from 312.7 million reais from a year earlier.

Nubank's investors include venture capital firms Dragoneer Investment Group, Ribbit Capital, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Tiger Global Management, as well as the Founders Fund, which is backed by billionaire Peter Thiel.

($1 = 5.4945 reais)

(Reporting by Joshua Franklin in New York and Carolina Mandl in Sao Paulo; Editing by David Gregorio)