A fintech that sells travel, not just banking
Nomad is a Brazilian fintech with more than 3.8 million customers. Founded in November 2020, Nomad pioneered US bank accounts for Brazilian residents and is now a market leader in comprehensive global financial solutions. Through the fintech platform, customers can build wealth in US dollars, execute international transfers, and make purchases abroad. The Nomad card is accepted worldwide for in-person and digital transactions, as well as ATM withdrawals.
Through its investment platform, Nomad provides access to major US stock exchanges for trading equities, ETFs, REITs, bonds, and dollar-denominated fixed income assets, enabling wealth dollarization for portfolio diversification and asset protection. Investment services offered by Nomad are brokered by local broker-dealer Global Investment Services DTVM Ltda.
Nomad Trips started over 2 years ago on affiliate deals for travel related add-ons, including a third-party travel eSIM. A year in, the data was clear. The eSIM sold, and it sold well. It suited a customer base defined by international travel, and it suited a company whose whole proposition is doing things digitally.
The affiliate model was capping the upside
An affiliate deal pays a commission and keeps everything else: the pricing, the branding, the journey, the data. Nomad wanted all four. So they decided to build their own product, Nomad Chip, and went looking for a supplier who could offer three things.
A partner who already knew telecoms. Nomad is a fintech. Mobile is a different industry with different rules, and learning it the hard way wasn't the plan.
Rates worth passing on. Particularly for the destinations their customers actually travel to: the United States, LATAM markets including Argentina and Chile, and the big European ones, Italy, France and the UK.
Control. White label and API driven, so the eSIM sat inside the Nomad app and Nomad set the price.
Nomad is trusted by millions of customers for always innovating and providing more value and benefits than our competitors. So the right partnerships on technology solutions are very important, which is why we chose eSIM Go.
Andrea Mattei, Director Travel & Shop, Nomad
Kick-off in late July, live in October
Technical work started in late July 2024. Nomad Chip launched in October 2024. Most of that gap was Nomad’s own commercial and marketing preparation. The integration itself was the quick part.
Owning the product changed two things straight away.
Nomad set the price. Rates could move strategically rather than tracking wholesale cost. That made a freemium model possible: Nomad funded a free 1GB eSIM and let end users pay to top up when they needed more. It also meant LATAM prices could come down without denting profitability, and conversion and sales rose immediately. Our team supported the pricing detail with them from the word go.
Nomad owned the experience. The eSIM sells inside the Nomad brand environment instead of handing end users off to someone else's website mid-purchase.
The eSIM Go onboarding was smooth and everything went to plan. Compared to other products we have developed, the whole journey was fast.
Andrea Mattei, Director Travel & Shop, Nomad
Year one
Nomad Chip beat Nomad’s internal forecasts for both revenue and gross profit in its first year. It also did something the affiliate product never could: it brought in people who weren't customers yet.
| Metric | Detail | What it meant |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium redemption | 25% of eligible debit card customers claimed the free 1GB eSIM. | Demand was there, and it was obvious early. |
| Top-up rate | 55% of those who claimed the free 1GB went on to buy more data. | A direct revenue line, not a loss leader. |
| Gross profit | Minus 5% in month one to an average of almost 50% after model adjustments. | A profitable business line inside a year. |
| Customer acquisition | Some people opened a Nomad account specifically to get the free eSIM. | The eSIM started selling the bank account. |
Looking at the numbers, eSIM Go has surpassed expectations and helped increase the profile of Nomad Chip and Nomad Trips. eSIM Go has also really helped educate us to become experts in digital mobile; proving their worth as a valuable partner we can rely on to collaborate with on new ideas and solutions.
Andrea Mattei, Director Travel & Shop, Nomad
What's next
Three things we're working on together.
All 190+ destinations. Nomad Chip launched on a short list of key markets. The next step is global coverage.
Conversion rate optimisation. Testing new versions of the purchase journey to lift conversion further.
Nomad Chip as an acquisition channel. It started as a product for existing customers and has begun attracting new ones. The ambition now is a travel eSIM aimed at every Brazilian traveller, with the Nomad account as the destination.
We have ambitious plans for Nomad Chip. It's all about how we evolve and improve it from here. We are very happy with eSIM Go and positive about where this partnership can take us.
Andrea Mattei, Director Travel & Shop, Nomad