David Vélez, Colombian founder of Brazil’s Nubank will donate his fortune to Giving Pledge program

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – David Vélez, founder of the world’s largest independent digital bank, Nubank, has signed the Giving Pledge initiative. He pledges to donate the majority of his wealth to solving social problems.

He and his wife, Mariel Reyes, made the pledge in a joint statement released today, August 11. This makes Vélez the only wealthy Latin American besides Brazilian real estate mogul Elie Horn to sign the Giving Pledge.

This program was initiated in 2010 by Warren Buffett, along with Bill Gates and his then-wife Melinda, to encourage the wealthy to donate to philanthropic or charitable causes.

A native of Medellín, Colombia, Vélez founded Nubank in 2013 after a career in private equity. The São Paulo-based digital bank has grown into a financial giant with more than 40 million customers and was recently valued at US$30 billion in a private investment round that included Buffett’s, Berkshire Hathaway.

Vélez and his wife will “launch a new philanthropic family platform focused on improving opportunities for Latin America’s most vulnerable and disadvantaged children and young adults,” the statement said. The two grew up in the region – Vélez’s wife is Peruvian.