Building Brazil’s Most Efficient Bank | Pedro Conrade, Neon (TJC Originals)

Pedro Conrade is the founder of Neon, one of Brazil's leading neobanks and one of Latin America's most capital-efficient fintech startups.

He started the company in 2016 at 23 — frustrated with his own bank account, with no playbook, no ecosystem, and no capital behind him.

Nearly a decade later, Neon generates close to $1B in run-rate revenue, growing ~60% year over year, serving millions of Brazilians in the lower- to middle-income segments that most fintechs deliberately avoid.

The company has raised close to $1B from General Atlantic, BBVA, BlackRock, PayPal, and others — and survived multiple near-death moments, most notably in 2018 when its partner bank was liquidated overnight, giving Pedro 72 hours to rebuild the entire company from scratch.

In this episode of The J Curve, Pedro shares the non-obvious decisions behind one of Brazil's most efficient digital banks — and what it actually takes to build a unicorn for the people incumbent banks ignore.

We discuss:

• How to build a profitable neobank in an emerging market — and why serving the underbanked is a better business than it looks

• Why engagement data beats credit scoring — and what that means for fintech underwriting at scale

• The 72-hour crisis that almost ended Neon — and the decisions Pedro made in real time to save it

• How Neon uses AI agents to handle collections, compliance, and customer support — and what that means for headcount at scale

• The fundraising playbook behind $924M raised from General Atlantic, BBVA, BlackRock and PayPal

• Why M&A destroys more value than it creates — and when it actually makes sense for a startup

Pedro also shares why the constraints of serving Brazil's underbanked population made efficiency non-negotiable — and why that same constraint became Neon's most durable advantage.

This episode is a masterclass on: 

— Fintech startup strategy in Brazil and Latin America 

— Building a digital bank from scratch with no prior funding 

— Venture capital fundraising for emerging market founders 

— AI in financial services and banking automation 

— Neobank growth, unit economics, and profitability 

— Financial inclusion and underbanked market opportunities.

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