Brazilian fintech Neon closed the first half of 2025 with a loss of R $ 35 million, significantly lower than the R $ 265 million of loss recorded in the first half of last year. In addition, revenue from financial intermediation rose 64% in the annual comparison to R $ 1.7 billion.
The numbers show that the company is maturing, leaving adolescence and entering adulthood, according to the analogy used by Wilton Pinheiro, Product VP and Neon CTO, in an interview with Infomoney. “We are that teenager who started doing a buck, but still loses a little more than he earns,” he says.
This was the best semiannual performance in fintech’s history, founded in 2016. The company reached profit in the last two months of 2024 and in the first quarter of 2025. In the second quarter, it fell again, according to Pinheiro: “We had the focus to prove that our business model gives profit and we profitable, the second quarter was already expected and, in fact, we are better than the year to this year And now the focus is on maturity. ”
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Neon’s maturation has two pillars: operational efficiency and intelligent credit. Fintech’s revenue growth was higher than cost growth (16%), a factor that Pinheiro credits to the company’s workflow and attracting the company’s talent: “We have a very careful selection process, with a great focus on bringing better people than the average, we have a feedback that we are doing more with less”.
The company’s product VP says that an important part of its work is the ability to draw priorities to separate what is a “lever that will change the business” from what is distraction. ”
In the credit card part, personal and payroll credit, Fintech has been approving credit with more intelligence, according to the executive. The company’s credit portfolio reached R $ 7 billion, a 17% growth compared to the first half of 2024, with majority card stake (R $ 5.4 billion).
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According to Pinheiro, the financial institution has been finding the balance between “a credit that is not too low, because then the customer will not use our option, not too high, where my wallet begins to take a risk that I do not want.” This thin adjustment has been done with data analysis, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Check out the main neon numbers in the first half of 2025:
| Given | Value No 1s25 | Variation (vs 1s24) |
| Prejudice | R $ 35 million | -86,70% |
| Credit card | R $ 7 billion | 19% |
| Revenue in financial intermediation | R $ 1.7 billion | 64% |
| New accounts | 2.4 million | 23% |
In a challenging macroeconomic scenario, with high interest rates and growing default, Neon decides to recurred or reduce customer limit, with a team dedicated to this, and for new customers, it has the strategy of not saying no one. For clients with a riskier profile, there is the option of Neon Viracredit, which gives a proportional limit to the amount that the consumer has saved in their Fintech account.
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Neon’s goal is to be the fintech of the Brazilian middle class. For this, it promotes, from this Monday (29), a rebranding with the motto “For you to live in the blue”, which coincides with the moment of the company, about to operate in the blue with more consistency. The idea is to dialogue better with audiences C+ and B-.
According to Pinheiro, the leadership of the company realized that old visual communication did not dialogue with the company’s target audience: “We respect the previous mark, it played an essential role for us, but we need a brand that transparets a vision of prosperity, hope, neon is thriving and maturing, just like our customers.”
In new communication, reliability and flexibility are keywords. “Today, when we interview our customers, one of the main reasons for choosing Neon is that they find a safe place here that can talk when they have a problem and can trust their money.”
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Pinheiro still talks about the role of flexibility in the relationship with the middle class: “What if I want to pay the invoice of my personal loan weekly because I have a variable income? These are things we have already translated into brand.”
Risks for Neon
In Fintech’s ripening trajectory, the lowest penetration is one of the concerns for the future. “We have an even less known brand and a smaller base than the great incumbents in Brazil and this is a threat,” says Wilton Pinheiro.
The way for Neon is to continue focusing on efficiency gain and bringing solutions to more than 32 million fintech customers, according to Pinheiro: “We are focusing on the customer, trying to solve their problems and, delivering a good product, the rest comes,” says Cto.
