The Capital One Playbook: Nigel Morris on Nubank, AI & the Future of Banking

Nigel Morris is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of QED Investors and co-founder of Capital One — the company that fundamentally changed consumer banking by pioneering a data-driven approach built around experimentation, risk-based pricing and the idea that virtually every decision in banking could be tested. Nigel later co-founded QED Investors, a global venture capital firm specializing in financial services that has backed more than 200 companies, including Nubank, Remitly, Credit Karma, Flywire, Creditas and Bitso.In this episode, Nigel shares the operating principles behind Capital One and how he brought them into QED’s “full 90 minutes” approach to venture, the story of meeting David Vélez before Nubank existed — when David told him he wanted to build a “Capital One in Brazil” — and what he saw in David that made him believe. We discuss whether Nubank can win in the U.S. and why Nigel believes America is now the biggest prize for Nubank, Revolut, Klarna and Monzo, the biggest mistakes fintechs make when expanding internationally, his “Galapagos Effect” for why incumbent banks remain structurally bad at innovation, what has fundamentally changed in Latin American fintech, the hangover from 2021 venture excesses, and why today’s market is so “intoxicated” by AI that even companies growing 40% with great unit economics can struggle to raise growth capital without an AI or stablecoin story.Partners: Huge thank you to our partners: iFood Beneficios JeevesSubscribe to ⁠⁠The J Curve Insider⁠⁠ newsletter for deeper insights and follow Olga on ⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠.