dLocal has taken a major leap forward in global payments by expanding its partnership with PayPal to enhance cross-border payment capabilities across more than 40 emerging markets worldwide. This dLocal-PayPal Partnership enables businesses to seamlessly process both B2B and B2C transactions without the need to establish local entities.
Integrating PayPal Enterprise Payments (formerly Braintree) with dLocal’s robust platform, global merchants can now efficiently accept cards, local payment methods, and alternative payment solutions across key regions, including Latin America, EMEA, and APAC.
Merchants benefit from:
- Frictionless access to new global customer segments
- Increased authorization rates and improved conversion
- Simplified entry into complex, high-growth markets
This dLocal-PayPal Partnership marks a strategic advancement in international e-commerce, which will empower businesses to scale globally with greater speed, compliance, and efficiency.
Key Takeaways
- This alliance with PayPal’s Enterprise Payments gives merchants the power to process cards and local payment methods in over 40 additional emerging markets, including Latin America, EMEA, and APAC, without the requirement for local incorporation.
- Powering on the existing PayPal integration and stored card data, businesses can access new local payment channels with minimal engineering effort. It will bring global capabilities without the usual technical burden.
- Using dLocal’s local acquiring infrastructure increases transaction approval rates, as domestic card acceptance is higher with local processors.
- Merchants benefit from a single platform to manage both global and local payment flows. It will simplify reconciliation, reporting, and operations across diverse markets
dLocal-PayPal Partnership: Access to Over 40 Emerging Markets with Streamlined Local Payment Integration
On May 6, 2025, dLocal and PayPal Enterprise Payments extended their partnership to offer merchants seamless access to more than forty emerging markets across Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. This dLocal-PayPal Partnership means that companies already using PayPal’s enterprise APIs can now accept both international cards and a broad spectrum of local payment methods – everything from real‐time bank transfers and digital wallets to cash‐based voucher systems – without having to establish separate legal entities or negotiate multiple acquiring agreements in each country.
The need for such capabilities has only grown more urgent. In Latin America, for example, digital payment revenue is projected to climb to roughly $300 billion by 2027, while e-commerce sales are on track to exceed $260 billion by 2028. Alternative and instant payments already represent about 40 percent of online transactions in that region, and similar patterns are emerging in parts of Asia and Africa. Consumers in these markets tend to favor locally familiar options – whether that’s paying through a popular mobile wallet in Indonesia or using a cash‐deposit voucher in Nigeria – over international credit cards. If merchants don’t offer those options, potential buyers often abandon their carts at checkout.
By tapping into dLocal’s specialized platform, PayPal merchants sidestep the traditional hurdles of cross-border expansion. Rather than embarking on the lengthy process of setting up a subsidiary, securing local licenses, and integrating with each country’s acquiring banks, they simply switch on the dLocal connector in their existing PayPal dashboard. Behind the scenes, dLocal handles all settlement, local‐currency conversion, and compliance checks while routing payments to the optimal local rails for maximum approval rates.
The list of newly accessible markets spans some of the world’s most dynamic economies. In Latin America, merchants gain entry to Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina, as well as smaller but fast-growing markets such as Nicaragua and Uruguay. In Asia, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam join the roster. And in EMEA, coverage now includes Nigeria, South Africa, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates, among others. All told, this single integration opens doors in more than forty countries, without any additional engineering work beyond enabling the feature in PayPal Enterprise Payments.
And that minimal engineering effort is a key advantage. Most merchants continue using their existing PayPal Braintree integration, along with the same card vault and checkout flows they’ve deployed elsewhere. dLocal’s API then dynamically routes each transaction, whether it’s a consumer purchase or a B2B invoice payment, to the local acquirer or payment scheme that delivers the best authorization rate. There’s no need to build and maintain separate regional integrations, which historically have meant weeks or months of development time and ongoing maintenance.
But it’s not just about speed to market. Processing locally tends to yield noticeably higher approval rates, often adding a few percentage points to overall authorization figures. That lift comes from lower fraud flags, fraud-screening rules tuned to regional payment behaviors and better interoperability with domestic banking networks. In practice, higher approval rates translate directly into more successful checkouts and more predictable revenue.
Merchants also benefit from a unified management console. Instead of juggling multiple dashboards, reconciliation spreadsheets, and settlement schedules, they get a single pane of glass within the PayPal environment. Operational teams can track transactions, monitor declines, manage disputes, and analyze regional performance without switching tools. dLocal’s reporting and analytics augment PayPal’s dashboards, giving clearer insights into where sales are strongest, which methods perform best, and where declines might be creeping up.
Recently, PayPal orchestration also initiated an omnichannel tie-up with Verifone for in-store and online payments. In both cases, PayPal Open acts as the central hub: merchants configure one connection, and payments flow through whichever local or global network makes the most sense. This pattern reduces complexity, consolidates monitoring, and speeds deployment, all while preserving the reliability PayPal is known for.
On the regulatory front, merchants gain another layer of simplicity. dLocal maintains the necessary authorizations in each market, covering anti-money laundering controls, data privacy requirements, and local acquiring partnerships. That means businesses don’t have to navigate the labyrinth of country-by-country licensing or worry about shifting compliance rules. dLocal absorbs those responsibilities, so merchants can focus on customer acquisition and product development instead of legal paperwork and audits.
The expanded relationship is relevant across a wide range of industries. E-commerce platforms can offer true “local” checkout experiences, with payment methods tailored to each customer’s market. Ride-hailing and food-delivery services can settle fares and fees into local wallets or bank accounts. Gaming companies can accept prepaid cards or mobile money options that resonate with regional audiences. Subscription services, digital publishers, and streaming platforms can boost conversion by letting subscribers pay in the currency and format they already trust. Even B2B suppliers benefit, since invoicing and collections in local currencies simplify accounting and reduce currency-conversion headaches.
From the consumer’s perspective, the change is subtle but meaningful. Being charged in local currency through a familiar interface reduces confusion and anxiety, and it cuts down on declines caused by mismatches between card networks and local banks. That friction reduction builds trust at checkout, which in turn drives repeat business and bolsters lifetime value.
And this move fits squarely within a broader trend toward payment orchestration and ecosystem partnerships. No single payment provider can support every niche method or regulatory nuance in every country, so alliances between global players and local specialists have become the norm. PayPal’s approach of weaving dLocal’s network into its own global rails illustrates how specialized providers and platform giants can each play to their strengths, delivering coverage that neither could achieve alone.
The foundation is in place for additional innovations. With the basic integration live, dLocal and PayPal can layer on services such as point-of-sale financing, more sophisticated fraud-detection models, and ever-faster reconciliation tools. Both companies have already signaled plans to expand the roster of supported payment types as new methods gain traction. So merchants who adopt today’s solution will likely benefit from further enhancements without revisiting the core integration.
This partnership between dLocal and PayPal Enterprise Payments represents a practical, efficient path for businesses aiming to enter or expand in emerging markets. By removing the usual barriers – entity setup, technical fragmentation, and regulatory complexity – it lets companies devote their resources to product innovation and customer experience. And for the buyers in those markets, it delivers the local payment options they expect, wrapped in the familiar PayPal checkout they trust.
John O’Brien, dLocal’s Chief Revenue Officer, explained that collaborating with a trusted leader like PayPal underscores dLocal’s dedication to supporting global enterprises in high-growth emerging markets. He noted that the integration with PayPal’s Enterprise Payments gives customers streamlined access to more than 40 previously out-of-reach countries, removes cross-border payment obstacles, and opens new pathways for international expansion.
In March, dLocal partnered with European remittance-as-a-service provider Belmoney to strengthen its cross-border payout capabilities. This collaboration will bring more than 900 local and alternative payment options, ranging from credit and debit cards to bank transfers and instant transactions, onto dLocal’s platform.
About dLocal
dLocal Limited, founded in 2016 in Montevideo by Sergio Fogel and Andrés Bzurovski, is a public financial technology company focused on simplifying cross-border payments for global merchants in emerging markets. Its platform supports over 300 local payment methods and operates in more than 40 countries, offering services like pay-ins, payouts, invoicing, and risk management. With offices in over 20 cities and a workforce of more than 1,000, dLocal became Uruguay’s first unicorn to go public, listing on the Nasdaq in 2021 with a valuation of $9.5 billion.
In 2024, dLocal reported $25.6 billion in total payment volume, a 45% year-over-year increase, and generated $746 million in revenue. With a net revenue retention rate of 113% and adjusted EBITDA of $189 million, the company continues to grow under CEO Pedro Arnt. It has formed partnerships with companies like PayPal and expanded local acquiring capabilities in regions such as the UAE, Turkey, and the Philippines. dLocal serves major global clients including Amazon, Uber, and Netflix, helping them reach underbanked populations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
About PayPal
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PayPal Holdings, Inc., founded in 1998 as Confinity and later merged with Elon Musk’s X.com, is a U.S.-based multinational fintech company known for its global online payments system. After being acquired by eBay in 2002 and spinning off in 2015, PayPal re-established itself as an independent digital payments leader. Headquartered in San Jose, it operates in over 200 markets, supports more than 100 currencies, and by the end of 2024 had 434 million active accounts and processed $1.68 trillion in payment volume across 26 billion transactions.
PayPal has expanded beyond its core platform through acquisitions and product development. Its broader ecosystem includes Venmo for peer-to-peer payments, Braintree for merchant services, Zettle for in-store payments, Xoom for remittances, and Honey for e-commerce tools. These offerings support a range of financial services, including cross-border transactions and “Buy Now, Pay Later” options, aiming to streamline commerce and improve access to digital financial tools for both consumers and businesses.
Conclusion
The expanded partnership between dLocal and PayPal Enterprise Payments delivers a scalable, low-friction solution for merchants entering fast-growing, complex markets. By combining PayPal’s enterprise infrastructure with dLocal’s local payment expertise, businesses gain access to over 40 emerging markets without added legal, technical, or regulatory burdens.
This unified integration improves approval rates, simplifies operations, and supports a wide range of payment preferences – all while preserving the familiar PayPal experience for customers. As global commerce continues to shift toward local-first strategies, this collaboration offers a practical way forward for companies seeking growth in high-potential regions.
