dLocal
More info
- Creator
- Sergio Fogel and Andrés Bzurovski
- Released
- Type
- Payment platform
- Website
- dlocal.com
Uruguayan payments company that lets global businesses collect and pay out across emerging markets through a single API.
An American company selling into Brazil, Mexico or India soon finds that customers do not want to pay by card. They pay with Pix, boleto, cash at an OXXO store or UPI, and every country has its own currency controls and taxes on money leaving. dLocal, founded in Montevideo in 2016, handles all of that for the merchant. Money is collected locally, converted and sent home in dollars; in the other direction, drivers and freelancers get paid into local accounts.
Clients have included Amazon, Uber and Spotify. The company became Uruguay's first unicorn and listed on Nasdaq in 2021. In November 2022 short seller Muddy Waters published a report questioning its numbers, and the share price halved in a day. Cross-border payments are hard; cross-border trust is harder.