Nubank

Challenger banks are a lead-gen layer on top of real banks

Shaan explains that neobanks like Nubank, Simple, and Brex aren't real banks; they sit on a partner like BBVA and own only the consumer-facing relationship, spending the marketing money to bring customers to the underlying bank.

“They sit on top of BBVA or they sit on top of these other banks and they're just the— they're the consumer-facing layer. But the banking happens with their underlying partner. And it's sort of like the lead gen model that you're talking about. They go to these banks and say, hey, I can get you a whole bunch more customers. I'm gonna spend all the money doing the marketing. They'll be banking with you, but we own this sort of relationship.”