Economy & Business - July 2021

Until recently, Uruguay had no unicorns (tech-based start-ups which grow to be valued at US$1bn or more). Then along came dLocal, a fintech specialising in international payments. Founded in 2016, it reached unicorn status in September last year, when it was valued at US$1.2bn. In June this year, after raising US$617m in an initial public offering  (IPO) on Nasdaq in New York, the company’s valuation soared again to over US$15bn, more than 25% of Uruguay’s GDP.