What Dodo Payments does

Dodo Payments is a US-incorporated fintech company founded in 2024 that operates a global Merchant of Record (MoR) platform purpose-built for AI-first and SaaS companies. The platform consolidates billing and payments infrastructure — credit-based billing, usage metering, subscriptions, one-time payments, tax compliance, invoicing, fraud protection, and global payment acceptance across 190+ countries, 80+ currencies, and 40+ payment methods — into a single API-driven stack. It charges 4% + $0.40 per successful transaction with no setup fees or monthly minimums, generating revenue through transactional take-rate on every payment processed.

The technology is API-first and developer-oriented, with REST APIs, webhooks, SDKs in Python, PHP, Node.js, Kotlin, Ruby, and Go, and framework adapters for 11+ JavaScript frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt, SvelteKit, Astro, Remix, TanStack, Hono, Express, Fastify) enabling integration in under 10 lines of code. The company's differentiator is an AI-native layer comprising an official Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, 8 published agent skills, and Sentra — an IDE-first AI billing assistant inside VS Code — positioning it as billing infrastructure for autonomous AI agents transacting at machine speed.

Dodo Payments executes a product-led growth motion through self-serve signup, free developer documentation, a demo website, Discord community, and SEO-driven comparison content against Stripe, Paddle, LemonSqueezy, and Gumroad. Enterprise prospects book demos for personalized onboarding. The company is privately held, raised $1.1M in pre-seed funding in February 2025 led by Antler, 9Unicorns, and Venture Catalysts, holds PCI DSS Level 1, GDPR, and CCPA certifications, and is led by founders Ayush Agarwal and Rishabh Goel. The company claims 50,000+ builders and founders using the platform and targets 10,000+ merchants globally with plans to expand local payment rails into 30+ new countries.

Name

Dodo Payments

Legal name

Dodo Payments, Inc.

Website

https://dodopayments.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2024

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Dodo Payments is a US-incorporated Merchant of Record platform founded in 2024 that provides credit-based billing, usage metering, subscriptions, and global payment processing for AI-first and SaaS companies across 190+ countries. Its $1.1M pre-seed-backed, API-driven stack includes an MCP server and the Sentra AI billing agent.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Payment Processing and Billing Infrastructure

NAICS

Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities (52232)

SIC

Finance Services (6199)

akta.pro primary industry

Alternative Payment Method (APM) Acquiring (e.g., BNPL, wallets, local methods) (FSAMABAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Embedded Payments (Pay-ins, Pay-outs, Wallets) (FSAGALAB), Recurring Billing & AutoPay Management (FSAMAJAE)

Keywords

• Payment processing
• Billing platform
• Merchant of record
• Usage based billing
• Global payments

Headquarters

HQ city

Bengaluru

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Transaction Fees (Merchant of Record): Dodo Payments charges 4% + 40 cents per transaction for their all-in-one merchant of record solution that includes payment processing, tax compliance, invoicing, and global coverage
2. Subscription Billing Management: Revenue from managing subscription billing for AI and SaaS companies, including recurring invoicing, credit management, and lifecycle management
3. Usage-Based Billing: Revenue from metering and billing token consumption, API calls, and usage-based charges for AI companies
4. One-Time Payments: Revenue from processing one-time purchases and digital product sales

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Dodo Payments is a unified billing and payments platform that serves as a global Merchant of Record for AI-first and SaaS companies. It provides credit-based billing, usage metering, subscriptions, and one-time payments, alongside international payment processing covering 190+ countries, 80+ currencies, and 40+ local payment methods. The platform handles tax compliance, invoicing, fraud protection, and customer support, allowing digital businesses to monetize AI products and SaaS offerings without building billing infrastructure from scratch.

Product overview

Dodo Payments is a unified billing and payments platform for AI-first companies, offering a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform includes credit-based billing, usage-based billing, subscriptions, one-time payments, and global payment processing through its Merchant of Record infrastructure. The platform spans 190+ countries with 80+ currencies and 40+ payment methods. AI-specific modules include Sentra AI Agent (IDE-first billing assistant), MCP Server (AI model connectivity), Agent Skills (8 pre-built AI capabilities), and Billing SDK (React/ShadCN components). Distribution features include purchasing power parity, discount codes, multi-brand support, storefront, affiliate program, digital product delivery, and license keys. The platform integrates with tools like HubSpot, SendGrid, Discord, Close, and Windmill, and offers SDKs in Python, PHP, Node.js, Kotlin, Ruby, and Go with framework adapters for major JavaScript frameworks.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sentra: An IDE-first AI agent assistant that integrates billing and payments, gives insights, and executes actions inside VS Code. Users can type what they want, approve the plan, and Sentra handles the rest.

Products and services

• Credit-Based Billing AI-native billing model allowing AI and SaaS companies to issue credits, meter tokens, track API calls, and bill overages with automated credit tracking.
• Usage-Based Billing Metered billing system with event ingestion for tracking usage-based metrics and pricing flexibility for SaaS products.
• Subscriptions Subscription management with add-ons, automated recurring billing, invoicing, and full customer lifecycle management for SaaS businesses.
• One-Time Payments Single payment processing for one-time purchases, digital product sales, and transactional payments.
• Merchant of Record Global merchant of record platform handling payments, tax compliance, invoicing, refunds, and customer support on behalf of digital businesses across 190+ countries.
• Adaptive Currency Multi-currency support allowing businesses to accept payments in 80+ currencies with automatic conversion and local pricing.
• Local Payment Methods Support for 40+ local payment methods worldwide enabling businesses to accept payments using region-preferred payment options.
• No-Code Checkout Payment page builder allowing businesses to create checkout experiences without coding, supporting quick payment collection.
• In-App Purchases Mobile payment integration using lightweight payment links and React Native SDKs optimized for iOS and Android.
• Storefront Digital storefront builder for creating product marketplaces and direct sales pages for digital products.
• Digital Product Delivery Automated delivery system for digital products including files, licenses, and digital assets upon purchase completion.
• License Keys Software license key generation and management system for selling software products with automatic license delivery.
• Affiliate Program Referral and affiliate management system for running partner-driven sales programs with tracking and commission management.
• Reporting and Analytics Centralized analytics dashboard for revenue insights, customer metrics, transaction data, and business intelligence.
• Fraud Protection Built-in fraud prevention systems using industry-standard encryption and fraud detection to secure transactions and protect businesses.

Quantifiable outcome

• Draftly went from $0 to $25K MRR and 700 paying customers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration7 records

AI capability7 records

Feature9 records

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Stripe: Stripe is the dominant global payment processor and developer-first platform. Dodo explicitly competes with Stripe on global merchant of record capabilities, billing, and developer experience, positioning itself as a simpler alternative for AI/SaaS companies.
• Recurly: Recurly is an enterprise subscription billing platform with global tax compliance and revenue recognition. Dodo positions itself as a more flexible, AI-friendly Recurly alternative for subscription-heavy SaaS merchants.
• Paddle: Paddle is a leading Merchant of Record platform purpose-built for SaaS, handling tax, billing, and global payments. Dodo compares directly against Paddle in its marketing materials, pitching better customer service and simpler onboarding for AI-native companies.
• FastSpring: FastSpring is a Merchant of Record specializing in software and SaaS subscription billing with global tax compliance. Dodo references FastSpring in its comparison content as a legacy MoR alternative it aims to displace with a more modern developer experience.
• Gumroad: Gumroad is a creator-economy Merchant of Record for digital products and subscriptions. Dodo targets similar individual creators and small sellers while adding AI-native billing primitives that Gumroad does not offer.
• Chargebee: Chargebee is a subscription billing and revenue management platform for SaaS, with usage-based billing and retention tools. Dodo overlaps with Chargebee in subscription lifecycle management and usage metering but bundles MoR tax/compliance that Chargebee does not.
• Metronome: Metronome is a usage-based billing infrastructure provider for SaaS and AI companies. Dodo and Metronome both target the same AI/SaaS billing segment, but Dodo extends the offering to include Merchant of Record and global payment processing.
• Orb: Orb is a usage-based billing platform purpose-built for modern SaaS and AI companies, offering metering, pricing experiments, and invoicing. Dodo competes with Orb on usage-based billing while bundling Merchant of Record services that Orb does not provide.
• Lemon Squeezy: Lemon Squeezy is a Merchant of Record focused on digital goods, subscriptions, and SaaS for individual creators and small businesses (recently acquired by Stripe). Dodo positions itself as the post-acquisition alternative for sellers seeking an independent MoR.

Emerging players

• Lago: Lago is an open-source usage-based billing platform for SaaS and AI products, offering metering and pricing flexibility. Dodo overlaps with Lago on AI/usage-based billing but adds hosted payment processing and MoR services, while Lago focuses on the billing engine layer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/dodopayments
• Xx.com/dodopayments
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/dodopayments

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Dodo Payments