I am also known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II. I am a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. I am a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg, where I was born and later also elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg (German Großbürger zu Augsburg). Within a few decades I expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. I began my education at the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained my main residence until 1487. At the same time I was a cleric and held several prebendaries, even though I never lived in a monastery. I am held to be one of the wealthiest individuals in modern history, alongside the early 20th century industrialists John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

The foundation of the family's wealth was created mainly by the textile trade with Italy. The company grew rapidly after me and my brothers Ulrich and Georg began banking transactions with the House of Habsburg as well as the Roman Curia, and at the same time we began mining operations in Tyrol, and from 1493 on the extraction of silver and copper in the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary. As of 1525 we also had the right to mine quicksilver and cinnabar in Almadén.

After 1487, I was the de facto head of the Fugger business operations which soon had an almost monopolistic hold on the European copper market. Copper from Hungary was transported through Antwerp to Lisbon, and from there shipped to India. I also contributed to the first and only trade expedition to India that German merchants cooperated in, a Portuguese fleet to the Indian west coast (1505/06) as well as a failed Spanish trade expedition to the Maluku Islands.

With my support of the Habsburg dynasty as a banker I had a decisive influence on European politics at the time. I financed the rise of Maximilian I and made considerable contributions to secure the election of the Spanish king Charles I to become Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. I also funded the marriages which later resulted in the House of Habsburg gaining the kingdoms of Bohemia and Hungary.

I secured my legacy and lasting fame through my foundations in Augsburg. A chapel funded by me and built from 1509 to 1512 is Germany's first renaissance building and contains the tombs of my brothers Ulrich and Georg. The Fuggerei which was founded by me in 1521 is the world's oldest social housing complex still in use. The Damenhof, part of the Fuggerhäuser in Augsburg, is the first secular renaissance building in Germany and was built in 1515.

I am among the most well known Germans and arguably the most famous citizen of Augsburg, with my wealth earning him the moniker "Fugger the Rich". In 1967 a bust of me was placed in the Walhalla, a "hall of fame" near Regensburg that honors laudable and distinguished Germans.