In 2 Years, Uruguayan Fintech dlocal Grew Transactions by 505%
This Uruguayan unicorn became profitable by processing $2.1B in payments per quarter.
In the modern world of tech and startups, profitability is becoming a rarity. Often, companies are more focused on growing and taking up market share at the expense of solid financial health. Amazon is the classic example of the first tech company that took a while to become profitable and is now one of the world’s most successful. In the US market, a record-breaking 951 companies went public last year, which is more than twice the amount of the second-highest year, 1999 (the Dot-com bubble). Out of those 951, only 22% are profitable.
dLocal is an Uruguayan fintech startup proving that it’s possible to be profitable and grow in the tech world. It was founded in 2016 by four graduates from Universidad ORT, the country’s largest private university. In 2020, in a funding round led by General Atlantic, dLocal became the first-ever Unicorn out of Uruguay. That same year, it debuted as the first Uruguayan company to go public in the US, and all four of its founders became Uruguay’s first billionaires.
The company enables consumers in developing markets like Latin America to buy from international companies like Netflix and Amazon. It offers the infrastructure to simply connect any company with the often challenging and bureaucratic payment systems found in less-developed countries. dLocal then charges a fee for each transaction it facilitates — about $4 for every $100 processed.
In less than two years, the company has gone from processing $348M in payments to $2.1B per quarter; that’s 6x more volume. Along the way, the company has also increased its profitability, raking in $44M gross profit last quarter alone. Sadly for the company, its market cap hasn’t been as lucky; it’s down 65% from its all-time high of $20B. Still, its sustainable business model likely means it will survive the bear market and continue its mission to “enable global merchants to connect seamlessly with billions of emerging market users.”
Requirements: Advanced Excel, fluent in English, basic SQL.