Nubank vs Mercado Libre: digital ecosystems on a collision course
Why Nubank and Mercado Libre stopped competing on products and started competing on context
Over the past few years, Nubank and Mercado Livre have become two of the most influential brands in Latin America’s digital economy. But the story is no longer “fintech on one side, eCommerce on the other”. Today, the real battle is for the entire consumer journey: where people discover, decide, buy, pay, split payments, return, recommend and repeat.
What is at stake is not just transaction volume. It is control of context, data, recurrence and primacy. Whoever wins the main screen of the consumer increasingly dictates the rules for the rest of the funnel.
This shift became clear in 2025, when Nubank reported a customer base of 127 million users, continuing to expand its portfolio beyond traditional credit. At the same time, Mercado Livre reinforced the strength of its ecosystem by reporting nearly 70.8 million unique buyers and 68 million monthly active users on Mercado Pago in Q2 2025.
Two scale machines. Two ecosystem models. One inevitable convergence.
Why it now feels like a direct showdown
For a long time, territories were clearly defined:
That clarity disappeared once both began attacking the same value capture point: the moment of purchase and payment, with credit and convenience embedded.
A symbolic example is the integration of NuPay into Amazon Brazil, announced in November 2025. It allows customers to pay at checkout without leaving the purchase journey, promising a smoother and more frictionless experience.
On the other side, Mercado Livre continues to expand Mercado Pago as a financial account and infrastructure both inside and outside the marketplace, with consistent growth in engagement and product depth.
The core of the dispute: vertical ecosystem vs orchestrated ecosystem
A useful way to understand this duel is to look at two different ecosystem-building models.
Mercado Libre: the vertically integrated ecosystem
Mercado Livre has built a system in which commerce, payments, credit and logistics reinforce one another. The marketplace generates traffic and recurrence, logistics reduces friction, Mercado Pago monetises payments and credit, and the seller base continuously feeds supply.
The result is a classic network effect: more buyers attract more sellers, more sellers increase assortment and competitiveness, and that, in turn, attracts more buyers.
Q2 2025 numbers illustrate the scale: 70.8 million unique buyers and 52% of deliveries made same day or next day, strengthening both operational advantage and customer experience.
Nubank: an ecosystem centred on the financial relationship and partnerships
Nubank follows a different logic. Instead of owning everything, it positions itself as the centre of the customer relationship, expanding into adjacent moments through proprietary products and partnerships. The integration of NuPay into major purchase journeys is a clear example.
There is also an often-overlooked detail: even with massive scale, deep monetisation takes time. In its Q1 2025 earnings call, Nubank stated that despite strong primacy, its gross profit market share was still only 5%, signalling that the company sees itself as being at the very beginning of its monetisation journey.
In practical terms: Nubank has distribution. Now it needs to turn that into value capture across more moments of everyday life.
Payment stopped being a “method”. It became a “place” in the journey
When payment is integrated into context, it stops being a button and becomes a conversion engine.
What the market is witnessing is the consolidation of “invisible payment”: you feel the benefit, but barely notice the action. And when that happens, the winner is whoever controls the ecosystem where the purchase decision is made.
War or coexistence?
There is competition, yes. But the outcome is more likely to resemble aggressive coexistence than a single winner, especially because:
What this teaches retailers
The most important lesson here is not “who will win”. It is the strategic pattern behind the movement:
Value has shifted from selling products to operating ecosystems.
This is where marketplace stops being “a digital project” and becomes a strategy for revenue and defensibility.
Marketplace in and out: the parallel you can apply to your business
Marketplace in
You open your eCommerce to third-party sellers, expand assortment, reduce stock-outs, monetise commissions, services and media, and start capturing value from the ecosystem, not just from inventory.
This is Mercado Libre’s logic applied to your own context: more supply, more traffic, more recurrence, more monetisation.
Marketplace out
You distribute your products through established ecosystems to capture ready-made demand, without relying solely on your own traffic. It is a powerful growth lever, especially when combined with strong pricing and operational readiness.
This is the logic of “being where the consumer decides”.
The key point: marketplace in and out do not compete. They complement each other. The most resilient retailers in the coming years will be those who master both.
How Devovea helps you turn eCommerce into a marketplace and unlock new revenue streams
If Nubank and Mercado Libre prove that ecosystems capture both journey and value, you do not need to be a giant to apply the same logic.
Devovea helps retailers evolve from eCommerce to marketplace with pragmatism and execution, covering:
If you want to create a new revenue stream and increase defensibility, marketplace is a direct path.
Talk to Devovea and let’s design your marketplace in and out strategy, grounded in your business reality and operational capabilities.
Sources:
➥ Nu Holdings Ltd. Reports Third Quarter 2025 Financial Results. https://international.nubank.com.br/company/nu-holdings-ltd-reports-third-quarter-2025-financial-results
➥ Nu Holdings Ltd. Q1 2025 Earnings Conference Call Transcript. https://api.mziq.com/mzfilemanager/v2/d/59a081d2-0d63-4bb5-b786-4c07ae26bc74/8a618204-525e-85f1-69bc-e60ae2406f72
➥ Mercado Libre Delivers Another Strong Performance in Q2 2025, Reporting $6.8 Billion in Revenue and $825 Million in Income from Operations. https://investor.mercadolibre.com/news-and-events/mercado-libre-delivers-another-strong-performance-q225-reporting-68-billion-revenue-and-825-million-income-operations
➥ Amazon Brazil and Nubank Announce Unprecedented Partnership to Integrate Payments and Facilitate Access to Credit. https://international.nubank.com.br/company/amazon-brazil-and-nubank-announce-unprecedented-partnership-to-integrate-payments-and-facilitate-access-to-credit
➥ . https://exame.com/en/we-like-to-win-an-interview-with-mercado-libres-current-and-future-ceos
READY TO EVOLVE YOUR ECOMMERCE INTO AN ECOSYSTEM?
Build a solid, scalable marketplace designed to capture value across the entire customer journey.
Nubank and Mercado Livre show that competitive advantage now lies in integrating shopping, payments and experience into a single ecosystem. Devovea helps you apply this logic to your business, transforming eCommerce into a marketplace, connecting partners and creating new revenue streams with predictability and control.
This is not about copying giants. It is about using the right strategy for your context.
