Dollarize is building a "cross-border Venmo."

The Techstars New York City powered by J.P. Morgan (2023) startup enables its global users to open USD accounts in the U.S., making transfers instant and free, no matter where they live or the currency they use.

Millions in emerging economies grapple with soaring inflation and currency devaluations against the U.S. dollar. Their inability to hold dollars in local banks erodes their savings, severely diminishing their quality of life. Meanwhile, international payments among individuals in these economies face significant friction and costs.

Step forward Dollarize founders Diego de la Campa & Esteban Levin. 

18 years ago, Diego created Mexico's first mutual fund platform, which grew into a broker-dealer with over $350M AUM and won the "Best Digital Strategy" award from the Mexican Internet Association. He and his team initially tackled currency devaluation by offering U.S. investment products to individuals living in LatAm.

But then they hit another snag: they noticed that all their customers had trouble sending funds from their home country to their U.S. brokerage account since they had to physically go to a local branch and ask to send an international transaction. And there was no easy alternative.

So Diego and Esteban built Dollarize to simplify international payments. With Dollarize, users can hold USD and send payments across borders instantly and for free, bypassing SWIFT costs. Starting in Latin America and the U.S., Dollarize targets the $200 billion remittance market.

Still just about a year old, the startup already has 50K accounts in five LatAm Countries.

In the near future, the team wants not only to be serving all of LatAm, but most parts of Africa and Asia too. 

We’ll be cheering them on from the sidelines!

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