Sebastián Kanovich, who holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Universidad ORT Uruguay, is one of the 35 winners of the“Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2018”competition organized by the Spanish-language edition of MIT Technology Review.
Kanovich is the CEO of the Uruguayan company dLocal, which has than 300 payment methods aimed at expanding access to international e-commerce. It focuses on Latin America and other emerging markets.
The company was founded with the goal of bridging the innovation gap between payment systems in developed countries and those in emerging economies. It supports payments via local cards, monthly installments, bank transfers, e-wallets, direct debit, and cash payments.
The rest of dLocal's executive team includes Chief Operating Officer Jacobo Singer, who holds a degree in Systems Engineering from ORT; Senior Vice President of Marketing Danielle Gotkis; and Chief Financial Officer Marcelo Pérez.
The platform was launched in 2016 as a spin-off of AstroPay, a company recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the world’s top 15 fintech companies in 2015. Furthermore, after growing by 400% in 2016 and expanding into 18 local markets, dLocal was selected by the same magazine as one of the 20 B2B (Business-to-Business) technologies to watch in 2017.
“We’re targeting both global companies like Facebook and Uber, as well as clients we have in Latin America who aren’t yet in India but want to enter the market,” Kanovich told El País. He added: “We have 150 employees, 80 of whom are in Uruguay, where all software development takes place, but we’re looking to bring in more professionals.”