In the age of digital-native businesses, going global should be as seamless as launching a website. But behind the shiny dashboards and SaaS subscription models, founders often run into a less glamorous reality: payments. For many startups, especially those born in emerging markets, accepting payments across borders feels like hacking through red tape—broken success rates, limited local options, and a mess of tax and compliance requirements.

Yet, while fintech continues to make headlines for innovation, the infrastructure for truly borderless commerce remains fractured. Especially for “default global” businesses—those that serve international users from day one—scaling revenue feels like building a payments stack from scratch every time they enter a new region.

That’s where Bengaluru-based Dodo Payments steps in.

We spoke to Rishabh Goel, co-founder of Dodo Payments, who shared the journey behind the company, why the Merchant of Record (MoR) model matters, and how they’re quietly reshaping the rails of global commerce.

Why Dodo Exists

For Rishabh Goel and Ayush Agarwal, the idea behind Dodo Payments wasn’t born in a pitch deck, it came from lived pain. 

Goel, having spent over a decade in the payments industry, saw how digital businesses, especially from emerging markets, were constantly let down by fragmented global payment systems. On the other side, Ayush had personally experienced the chaos of collecting international payments while scaling a gaming platform.

Their paths crossed at Antler, where they quickly bonded over this shared frustration. To test whether this was a broader problem, they spoke to over 200 founders building digital products across India, Southeast Asia, and other fast-growing tech ecosystems. 

What they found was a pattern: promising startups being held back not by product-market fit, but by outdated financial rails—low payment success rates, lack of local options, tax headaches, and compliance red tape.

Rather than patching over the cracks with another payment gateway, they decided to reimagine the entire experience using a Merchant of Record (MoR) model. 

“Think of it as the Chroma for your digital store,” says Goel. “We handle everything—payments, taxes, compliance, billing, and chargebacks—so founders can stay focused on building and scaling.”

Backed by a remote-first, lean team of 15+ people across time zones, Dodo has quickly gained momentum. The startup raised $1.1 million in pre-seed funding from strategic backers including Antler, 9Unicorns, and Venture Catalysts, with participation from prominent angels like Nitin Gupta (Uni Cards), Preethi Kasireddy (ex-a16z), and Maninder Gulati (ex-Oyo).

It’s a bet on founders building globally from anywhere, and making sure payments don’t hold them back.

The MoR Advantage

Most traditional payment gateways (PGs) merely process transactions. When a customer in the U.S. uses their card to pay a company in India, the local gateway typically relies on third-party rails, creating inefficiencies, adding friction, and often resulting in failed transactions. Dodo flips that model by owning the transaction entirely.

“As a Merchant of Record, we don’t just route payments—we absorb the entire stack,” explains Goel. “That means better payment success, local payment options, and full-stack compliance from day one.”

This ownership enables Dodo to offer region-specific payment methods, such as Apple Pay in the U.S., Klarna in Europe, UPI in India, and Pix in Brazil. In fact, Dodo boasts over 90% success on international transactions, a stat that puts them ahead of industry norms.

Additionally, the traction speaks for itself. In just its first year, the startup onboarded over 1,000 merchants across 30+ countries. It now supports payments from 150+ countries, with 30+ payment methods and 25+ currencies, all while maintaining seamless integration with over 10 global payment providers.

Building for the Long Game

At its core, Dodo Payments’ journey is defined by a clear set of goals—short-term execution with long-term ambition. 

In the immediate future, the team is focused on scaling responsibly. It is looking to reach 100,000 merchants, expand local processing coverage to over 50 countries, and roll out frictionless tax and subscription billing tools that founders can plug in without hassle.

But it’s the long-term vision that sets Dodo apart. The company wants to make cross-border commerce invisible. 

“Whether you’re a solo founder in Bangalore or a SaaS startup in Vietnam, we want you to be able to charge like a local, wherever your customers are,” says Goel. 

Ultimately, Dodo aims to become the Stripe Atlas for monetization, so founders never have to worry about global revenue collection again.

This ambition is closely tied to Dodo’s internal culture, which revolves around empathy and execution. The team prides itself on being founder-first, not just in words, but in action. They help with tax setups, pricing strategies, and compliance onboarding, understanding that payments are often one of the most confusing pieces of the startup puzzle.

Of course, reaching this point hasn’t been without friction. From overcoming legal red tape with licensed payment providers to building an in-house tax engine to support 150+ countries, the early journey has been demanding. 

But perhaps the biggest hurdle was market skepticism. Convincing founders to switch from the familiar PG model to a new framework took time and proof. 

Now, Dodo has both.

A Borderless Vision, Built from the Ground Up

As Dodo Payments continues to scale, Goel’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs remains rooted in the fundamentals: talk to users relentlessly, and build for real, painful problems, not what’s trending. 

“Dodo wouldn’t exist without the 200+ founder conversations that shaped our thesis,” he says.
“Global payments may not be sexy, but the pain is very real. Solve real problems deeply.”

That mindset has fueled Dodo’s rise, but it’s also shaped their deeper mission to empower a new generation of builders who are global from day one. The team believes the next wave of global commerce is emerging from places like India, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe. What’s missing is the infrastructure to support that ambition.

“We’re building Dodo Payments for that world, where geography doesn’t limit revenue,” Goel adds.

In many ways, Dodo is more than just a payments platform, it’s a quiet rebellion against legacy financial systems that weren’t built for the internet era. Whether you're a solo founder or scaling a SaaS product to multiple continents, the promise is simple: payments should just work.

For those curious to see that impact in real time, Dodo has also launched a live comparison tool that shows how success rates improve when switching from a traditional PG to their Merchant of Record model. Do check it out!

Edited by Harshajit Sarmah