The financial technology company dLocal became the first unicorn of Uruguay in 2020, after four years of operations, and a little less than a year later it began trading on the NYSE, reaching today a present that combines successful numbers with investigations for “fraud”.
It is that the platform that offers digital payment solutions gave good news last week when it presented its report on first quarter financial resultswhere he registered Profits by $35.5 millionalmost 83% more than in the previous quarter. However, this milestone coexists with the recent denunciation of the government of Argentina, who accused her of fraud for the alleged escape abroad of 400 million dollars and caused their shares to plummet.
However, the company founded by Sergio Fogel and Andres Bzurovski in 2016 it holds a title that no one can take away from it: being the first Uruguayan company to become a “unicorn” by reaching a $1 billion valuation in a local round.
How to Become a Unicorn: The dLocal Way
The Uruguayan company was born in 2016 from the identification of a great demand for international payment processing services in Uruguay, and with the aim of reducing the innovation gap in the sector between developed countries and emerging economies. The reading of the business was good, since at the end of that year they had left the country and arrived in Argentina, Brazil, Chili, China, Colombia, Mexico and Türkiye. In 2017 they decided to take another leap and landed in India.
Just in September 2020, after an investment of 200 million dollars from private equity firms General Atlantic and additionreached a valuation of 1,200 million dollars, which made it the first unicorn in Uruguay.
Back then, based in Montevideooperations in 20 countries and intentions to disembark in another 13 —including Kenya, Vietnam and thailand— the company had no intention of going public in the short or medium term.
The arrival on Wall Street and a milestone for the Uruguayan technological ecosystem
The news was confirmed via social media on June 3, 2021: dLocal became a publicly traded company in nasdaqin a Uruguayan economy largely dependent on public spending, exports of agricultural products and tourism, but with the intention of advancing in its development.
At the time, it was all good news: The firm raised $617.4 million, with an initial placement price of $21 per share, and its total valuation exceeded $6 billion. At the close of the New York Stock Exchange on that first day, the stock was worth more than 50% of its introduction value, at $32 per share.
Profits continued to grow for the first Uruguayan unicorn that today operates in 39 markets and plans to arrive in Nicaragua and Saudi Arabia. And the numbers for the third quarter of 2022 confirmed a trend that seemed to have no ceiling, something that was later overshadowed, first by the harsh report from Muddy Waters Capital, that he spoke of contradictions in the collection account; and now because of the accusations of “fraud” by the government of Argentina.
Source: Ambito
