DLOCAL

Andrés Bzurovski and Sergio Fogel were Uruguayan entrepreneurs who saw that global companies wanted to operate in emerging markets but could not figure out the payments. Each country had different regulations, preferred payment methods, tax requirements, and settlement timelines.

A company wanting to accept payments in 30 emerging markets would need 30 different integrations. dLocal built a single platform that handles all of it — one API, one contract, one integration.

Founded in 2016 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

B2B payment processing. dLocal charges transaction fees (typically 2-5%) on payments processed through its platform in emerging markets.

Revenue comes from payment processing, FX conversion, and disbursement services. The company is profitable and has been since before its IPO — unusual for a growth-stage fintech.

dLocal Payments (accept local payments in 40+ countries). dLocal Payouts (send disbursements to emerging markets).

dLocal Cross-Border (handle FX and settlement). Support for 900+ payment methods.

Single API integration for all markets.

Land-and-expand with global enterprise clients. dLocal's strategy was to sign one major global client (like Amazon or Spotify), handle payments in one emerging market flawlessly, then expand to additional countries within the same client.

Each new country added is incremental revenue with minimal sales effort. The company also grew geographically — from Latin America to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

Short-seller allegations. Muddy Waters Research published a critical report in 2023 questioning dLocal's revenue recognition and governance, which caused the stock to drop significantly.

dLocal denied the allegations and commissioned independent reviews, but the stock has not recovered to its 2021 highs. Regaining investor trust is the primary challenge.

IPO'd on NASDAQ in June 2021 at $21 per share. Stock peaked near $73 (market cap ~$20B).

Pre-IPO investors included General Atlantic and Alkeon Capital. The company was profitable at IPO.