Easynvest (Sold at Discount)
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Easynvest was Brazil's largest self-directed digital brokerage, letting individual investors trade stocks, options, futures, government and private bonds, and investment funds on a 100% digital platform, alongside financial-education content. It pioneered online access to the Brazilian stock exchange in 1999 and was first to offer mobile access to the fixed-income market in 2016. At the time of its sale it had about 1.5 million customers and over R$20 billion in assets under custody. U.S. private equity firm Advent International had been a prominent shareholder since 2017.
02 / Easynvest (Sold at Discount) FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Easynvest did not collapse operationally — the reported failure is that it was sold. In September 2020, Nubank announced the acquisition of 100% of the Easynvest companies for total consideration of R$2.36 billion (US$451.5 million), composed of R$942.6 million in cash plus 7.9 million Nubank Series F-2 preferred shares, with Advent International exiting and becoming a Nubank investor. The deal closed on June 1, 2021 after approvals from Brazil's CADE (October 2020) and Central Bank (May 2021), and the brokerage was later rebranded NuInvest. No public source independently verifies the 'sold at a discount' characterization; some later analyses actually judged the price expensive from Nubank's side.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Pioneering online brokerage
Easynvest began activities in Brazil, pioneering online access to the stock exchange (the record lists 2010 as the founding year).
- Advent investment
U.S. private equity firm Advent International became a prominent shareholder of Easynvest.
- Nubank acquisition announced
On September 11, 2020, Nubank announced the acquisition of 100% of the Easynvest companies for R$2.36 billion (US$451.5 million) in cash and shares.
- Deal closed
After CADE approval (October 2020) and Central Bank approval (May 2021), the acquisition closed on June 1, 2021; the brokerage was later rebranded NuInvest.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
On September 11, 2020, Nubank announced a cash-and-stock deal to acquire 100% of the Easynvest companies, with Advent International agreeing to sell its controlling stake and become a Nubank investor.
- 02
Brazil's antitrust authority CADE approved the deal on October 27, 2020, and the Central Bank of Brazil approved it on May 4, 2021.
- 03
The transaction closed on June 1, 2021, with total consideration of R$2.36 billion (US$451.5 million): R$942.6 million in cash plus 7.9 million Nubank Series F-2 preferred shares.
- 04
Easynvest continued operating independently before being integrated and rebranded as NuInvest.