The payment processing company is valued at US$ 1.2 billion after an investment round, making it the new unicorn in Latin America and the first in Uruguay's history.
The Startup was founded in 2016 and since then has achieved 100% annual organic growth offering its services to more than 450 companies in 20 countries with the option to more than 300 local payment methods. Amazon, Didi, Nike, Uber, Netflix and Zara stand out among its clients.
"This milestone is a new step to show the maturity of the technology ecosystem," said Leonardo Loureiro, President of Cuti, who also stressed that such achievements reinforce the idea that in Uruguay it is possible to create companies of this level and position the country from another perspective to investors.
For its part dLocal recognized the importance of this milestone for the company and stressed that this is just the beginning "we are far from resting or slowing the pace that we have as a hallmark. We have ambitious plans to continue growing both in geographical expansion, in customers, as well as in innovation and product". With the investment obtained, they have plans to expand both in products and customers, for which they already have a defined roadmap to reach 13 new emerging markets in the next 18 months.
But... what is the secret of dLocal?
When asked, Jacobo Singer, COO and Cecilia Parodi, Head of Technical Account Management, highlighted 2 factors that for them have been key to their success. "On the one hand, we were able to detect an opportunity: Emerging markets show a growth of more than 35%. Large BigTech companies and online merchants are looking for new growth opportunities, moving out of their saturated domestic markets. Many of these markets have populations where less than 10% have access to international credit cards," they told us. An opportunity that dLocal was able to seize by becoming experts in payment methods in emerging markets, allowing them to offer tech giants the ability to enter these markets as locals.
At the same time, they highlighted the passion and determination of the group of professionals that make up dLocal, which for them is the key to their success. "The more complicated it gets, the more momentum we have". From dLocal they have worked to be more than just a payment solutions provider, they have gone beyond that and have set out to be a local guide, partner and advisor to their clients in Asia, Africa and Latin America. "When our clients are exposed to unfamiliar markets and with it unfamiliar user behaviors, or have to deal with unique local payment restrictions and regulations, we address these challenges long before they become too problematic to solve" they added.
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