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Unlocking growth by empowering millions
Imagine waking up tomorrow with no debit card, no banking app, and no safe way to send money to loved ones or securely store your savings. Imagine feeling unwanted by the financial system – overlooked and underserved. This is a daily reality for 1.3 billion adults worldwide who remain financially excluded, representing one of today’s most significant yet solvable social and economic challenges.
Baillie Gifford’s Positive Change Team sees financial inclusion as more than just ethically right – it’s a substantial long-term investment opportunity. In the past year alone, we've added three innovative companies to our portfolio specifically addressing this critical issue.
A large untapped opportunity
Inclusive finance isn't charity; it's smart business. Consider your everyday interactions –buying coffee, tapping for transport, or splitting a bill with friends. Such frictionless financial experiences are commonplace for many, but for billions globally, basic financial services like easily accessible accounts, sending money home or securing a small business loan remain difficult or prohibitively expensive.
The World Bank estimates that inclusive financial services could generate approximately $380bn annually by 2030. Even capturing a fraction of this market offers enormous growth opportunities for companies positioned to deliver innovative solutions. The advent of increasing digitalisation and the proliferation of affordable smart devices are unlocking previously untapped opportunities.
Differentiated insights are essential
Identifying opportunities in financial inclusion requires deep insights into customer needs, tailored services, and strategies to profitably reach underserved populations.
To sharpen our approach, we actively partner with expert organisations. Our collaboration with Brazilian consultancy Plano CDE has given us profound insights into financial behaviours among low-income communities in Latin America, influencing our investment strategy and enabling informed engagement with companies like Nubank. Similarly, our ongoing relationship with the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP), a World Bank-affiliated think tank, continues to deepen our understanding of financial resilience and consumer vulnerability, further guiding our investment decisions.
Nubank: disrupting Latin American banking
Traditional banks in Latin America have historically ignored lower-income populations, considering them uneconomical to serve. Nubank flipped this conventional wisdom on its head with an intuitive digital platform that allows users to open accounts instantly, access transparent credit, and manage money seamlessly via smartphone.
© Shutterstock / Postmodern Studio
Since Positive Change first invested in Nubank in December 2021, it has grown from 40 million to nearly 120 million customers. It continues to grow at pace and is currently adding around one million new customers a month. Nubank’s innovative model isn't just popular, it’s highly profitable. Revenues surged from $1.7bn in 2021 to over $11.5bn by 2024. Remarkably, it saved customers an estimated $11bn in bank fees in 2023 alone.
Having already captured around 60 per cent of Brazil’s adult population, Nubank is rapidly expanding its transformative model into Mexico and Colombia, underscoring the enormous potential in serving those traditionally excluded by financial systems.
Remitly: revolutionising global remittances
Sending money home should be simple, yet traditional methods remain costly, slow, and opaque. Remitly revolutionises cross-border money transfers by providing fast, secure, and transparent services to over 170 countries. Compared to other digital remittance companies, Remitly is primarily focussed on remittance corridors that service low-and middle-income countries. Remittances from developed to developing countries are a lifeline, often spent on essentials such as healthcare costs and education, they are vital for some of the poorest in the world. Remitly lowers costs significantly compared to traditional money transfer approaches, enabling more money to reach recipients swiftly – in 2024, 92 per cent of transactions, totalling over $50bn, were delivered within an hour.
Since entering the Positive Change portfolio in 2022, Remitly’s active user base has grown from 3 million to over 8 million customers. Revenues have nearly doubled to surpass $1.2bn, driving its share price to nearly twice what it was when we first invested. With only 3 per cent penetration in the growing global consumer remittance market, expected to reach $3tn by 2030, Remitly’s compelling value proposition positions it strongly for continued rapid growth.
MercadoLibre: Empowering Latin America’s Small Merchants
Often called Latin America’s Amazon, MercadoLibre goes far beyond ecommerce, empowering millions of small and medium-sized businesses across the region. Through its fintech arm, Mercado Pago, it provides vital financial services – including credit lines, digital payments, and working capital solutions – to entrepreneurs previously excluded from formal finance.
Today, over 1.8 million families depend on MercadoLibre’s ecosystem as their primary income source. In 2023, more than half of Mercado Pago’s new users accessed digital payments formally for the first time, highlighting the profound financial inclusion impact.
Since our initial investment in 2020, MercadoLibre’s revenues have grown by 58 per cent annually, its loan book has expanded 16-fold, and its share price has increased by over 300 per cent – clear evidence that supporting small businesses can deliver measurable social impact and substantial investor returns.
Investing for Positive Change: why it matters
Inclusive finance is fundamentally about seizing long-term growth opportunities. Companies like Nubank, Remitly, and MercadoLibre are not niche operators. They are innovative leaders reshaping industries by addressing significant unmet customer needs, proving that profitability and positive societal impact can coexist.
By investing in the best opportunities in financial inclusion, Positive Change is tapping into immense growth potential while supporting companies that are working to significantly improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable individuals globally.
Join us in redefining growth
Inclusive finance is essential. Billions remain underserved, and companies unlocking access to these markets are positioned to thrive. We believe financial inclusion represents one of the most compelling investment opportunities today – transforming lives and delivering exceptional returns for investors.
Explore this topic further with Positive Change decision-maker Ed Whitten in the latest episode of the Baillie Gifford podcast, "Short Term Briefings on Long Term Thinking," and join us in championing the companies reshaping finance into a force for genuine positive change.
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The views expressed should not be considered as advice or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a particular investment. They reflect opinion and should not be taken as statements of fact nor should any reliance be placed on them when making investment decisions.
This communication was produced and approved in July 2025 and has not been updated subsequently. It represents views held at the time of writing and may not reflect current thinking.
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