Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal – From MELI CFO to Leading a Multi-Billion Dollar Giant, Lessons from a Serial Builder

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Miguel Armaza interviews Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal (NASDAQ:DLO), a multi-billion dollar payments company that specializes in cross-border and local payments in emerging markets. Founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, dLocal today operates in 40 markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Pedro has an impressive background and you’ll learn a lot from him. Prior to his appointment as dLocal CEO, he spent 24 years at MELI and was the CFO of the company from 2011 to 2023. During his tenure as CFO, MELI had an amazing run and went from a market cap of $4 Billion to $70 Billion. Today, MELI has a market cap of over $100 billion.

In this episode, we discuss:

  • Lessons from the early days of MELI and launching Mercado Pago
  • Stepping into the role of CEO as a non-founder, and avoiding Manager Mode
  • How to build beautiful products
  • Expanding globally
  • How to hire amazing people… lots more!


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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder and General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.

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