Brazilian digital bank Neon appoints Coinbase vet Madeira CTO

Madeira sold his AI-powered fintech startup Meemo last year to Coinbase where he recently oversaw crypto-related consumer-facing data products. He has also built and led large engineering and data efforts and teams for over a decade at Google Search and Snap.

At Neon he has been charged with building a “technology-driven financial product powerhouse” beginning with a remote-worker recruiting effort to secure the world’s best tech talent, regardless of location.

The digital lender plans to invest heavily in areas like large-scale data engineering, data science, distributed systems, and machine learning.

Madeira himself will be based in the Bay Area, following the path of Koji Pereira, the Twitter and Google veteran, who recently took on the role of Neon chief design officer.

“One of my immediate goals is to transform Neon into a global leader in technology by bringing world-class talent into the company, no matter where they are,” says Madeira.

Founded in 2016, Neon launched with a simple digital account and has since expanded its product suite to include investment products, credit cards, and personal loans, among other new offerings and features.

The company boasts 15 million registered accounts making it one of several fintech giants – alongside the likes of Nubank, Ebanx, C6 and Creditas – to blossom in Latin America’s biggest market.

In February it secured a $300 million investment from BBVA, bringing the Spanish lender’s stake to just under 30% and pushing Neon into the unicorn club.