Nu Holdings Ltd. vs PepsiCo, Inc.: Strategic Comparison

This in-depth comparison examines Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. across revenue, market value, business model, competitive positioning, and long-term growth strategy. Whether you are researching Nu Holdings Ltd. on its own, evaluating PepsiCo, Inc., or weighing the two companies side by side, the breakdown below highlights where each company leads and where the gap between Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. is widest.

On the headline numbers, Nu Holdings Ltd. reports annual revenue of $15.8B against $93.9B for PepsiCo, Inc., while their respective market capitalizations stand at $66.3B and $175.0B. Nu Holdings Ltd. is headquartered in Brazil and PepsiCo, Inc. in United States, and those different home markets shape how each company competes.

Nu Holdings Ltd.: Nu Holdings is a Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company headquartered in São Paulo that runs Nubank, Latin America's largest digital bank by customers. It ended Q2 2026 with 139 million customers, almost 118 million of them in Brazil, and said it had become the largest digital bank in Mexico with 16 million customers after launching its Mexican bank in August 2026. Its shares trade on the NYSE as NU, with BDRs on Brazil's B3 as ROXO34.

PepsiCo, Inc.: PepsiCo is often seen as a soda company, but convenient foods supply more than half of its revenue. Frito-Lay, Quaker and international snack brands such as Walkers, Sabritas and Kurkure sit alongside Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Gatorade, Aquafina and SodaStream. The company sells in more than 200 countries and territories, with North America generating about 60% of net revenue. Since 2025 it has been under pressure from Elliott Investment Management, which disclosed a roughly $4 billion stake, to improve North American performance.

Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. pursue distinct approaches to generating revenue, and understanding how each company operates is the foundation of any fair comparison between Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc..

Nu Holdings Ltd. business model: Nubank earns revenue mainly from interest on credit card balances, personal loans, payroll and secured loans, and from yield on the securities it buys with customer deposits. Fee and commission income adds interchange on card spending, late fees, and commissions from insurance, investments and marketplace sales. The model depends on acquiring customers cheaply (largely by word of mouth), serving them through an app at a low monthly cost, and then raising average revenue per active customer (ARPAC, about $15 a month in Q4 2025) by cross-selling credit, savings, investment and insurance products.

PepsiCo, Inc. business model: PepsiCo makes money by manufacturing and selling branded snacks, packaged foods and beverages to retailers, foodservice operators and independent bottlers. It reports through regional segments: PepsiCo Foods North America (Frito-Lay and Quaker, combined in 2025), PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA), Latin America, Europe, Africa/Middle East/South Asia (AMESA) and Asia Pacific. In North America it runs its own plants and a direct-store-delivery (DSD) system, so its employees deliver and stock shelves. Internationally, much of the beverage business sells concentrate to franchise bottlers such as Varun Beverages, while snacks are largely made and distributed by PepsiCo itself. Volume, pricing and pack-size mix (revenue growth management) drive revenue; advertising and the DSD network sustain shelf presence.

The durability of a company's moat often decides long-term winners. Here is how the competitive advantages of Nu Holdings Ltd. stack up against those of PepsiCo, Inc..

Nu Holdings Ltd. competitive advantage: Nubank's edge is cost and scale. It runs without branches, reported a cost to serve below $1 per active customer per month and a record efficiency ratio of 19.9% in Q4 2025, and gains most new customers through referrals. Transaction and deposit data from more than 130 million customers feed its underwriting models, and that data advantage grows as more Brazilians use Nubank as their primary account.

PepsiCo, Inc. competitive advantage: PepsiCo's advantage is scale in savory snacks combined with a large beverage business and a direct-store-delivery network. Frito-Lay brands such as Lay's, Doritos and Cheetos lead the US salty snack aisle, and DSD lets PepsiCo control merchandising and restocking in grocery, mass and convenience stores. Owning both snacks and drinks gives it leverage in joint promotions with retailers, something pure-play beverage rivals cannot offer.

Future prospects matter as much as current results. The growth strategies below explain how Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. each plan to expand from here.

Nu Holdings Ltd. growth strategy: Nubank is growing by deepening products for existing customers (secured and payroll loans, investments, insurance, small-business banking), scaling Mexico after its 2026 bank launch and Colombia, and entering the US through a sponsor bank while its national bank charter is finalized.

PepsiCo, Inc. growth strategy: PepsiCo's current growth strategy has four parts: affordability (price cuts of up to 15% on Lay's, Tostitos, Doritos and Cheetos in February 2026), portfolio shift toward better-for-you and functional brands through acquisitions such as Siete (2025), poppi ($1.95 billion, closed May 2025) and Sabra, cost reduction (three US plant closures, SKU rationalization and a review of North American supply chain and go-to-market), and international expansion in snacks and energy drinks, including its Celsius partnership.

A closer look at the financial trajectory of Nu Holdings Ltd. and PepsiCo, Inc. rounds out the comparison.

Nu Holdings Ltd.: Nubank turned its first annual profit in 2023 ($1.03 billion on $8.03 billion revenue) and has scaled fast since. Under IFRS it reported FY2024 revenue of $11.52 billion and net income of $1.97 billion, then FY2025 revenue of $15.77 billion and net income of $2.87 billion. Using its newer managerial P&L, it reported Q4 2025 revenue of $4.9 billion and net income of $895 million with a 33% ROE. In Q2 2026, gross revenue rose 39% to $5.88 billion and net income reached $1.061 billion, up 49% FX-neutral, with a record 33% return on equity.

PepsiCo, Inc.: PepsiCo grew net revenue from $62.8 billion in 2016 to $93.9 billion in 2025, but growth slowed to 0.4% in 2024 and 2.3% in 2025 (1.7% organic) as North American snack volumes declined. Fiscal 2025 net income was $8.24 billion, down 14%, reflecting a roughly $2 billion impairment mainly on Rockstar. In 2026 the picture improved on the top line: Q1 net revenue rose 8.5% and Q2 rose 6.4% to $24.18 billion, helped by acquisitions, currency and international volume. Q2 2026 net income was $2.98 billion versus $1.26 billion a year earlier. For full-year 2026 PepsiCo guided to 2-4% organic revenue growth and 4-6% core constant-currency EPS growth.