Our history

We launched PagSeguro in 2006 as an online payment platform to provide the digital payment infrastructure necessary for e-commerce growth in Brazil. The credibility of our parent company UOL was key to this success. Founded in 1996, UOL is Brazil’s largest Internet content, digital products and services company. According to comScore, 107 million unique visitors (approximately 88% of Brazilian internet users) accessed a UOL website in June 2019. In addition, according to Google Ad Manager (the add server system that we utilize) as of June 2019, UOL achieved approximately 6.3 billion page views, provided approximately 14.7 billion display ads and had a potential video inventory of 300 million video ads. The PagSeguro and UOL brands together gave online consumers the confidence to share their sensitive personal and financial data with us, allowing them to shop online easily and safely. As an example, we brought trust to the online merchant-customer relationship by introducing a feature where we hold the consumer’s payment in escrow for a period of time after the purchase, as a precaution in case of any commercial claims.

In 2013, we expanded from online payments into POS payments, allowing merchants to receive in-person payments. Focusing primarily on individual entrepreneurs, Micro-Merchants and SMEs, we started selling a range of POS and mobile POS, or mPOS, devices specifically designed to fit their business needs. Our devices offer competitive transaction fees and access to our end-to-end digital banking ecosystem, with a free PagBank digital account which is similar to a regular checking account. They span from our entry-level product, the Minizinha, to the Moderninha Smart. Unlike the incumbent payment providers in Brazil, who rent their POS devices to merchants, we innovated by allowing merchants to acquire their own POS device from us in 12 monthly installments. For the equivalent of three to six months of rental fees with the incumbents, merchants can have a comparable device from PagSeguro with a free PagBank digital account.

Our digital banking ecosystem helps drive financial inclusion in Brazil providing business solutions primarily designed for consumers, individual entrepreneurs, Micro-Merchants and SMEs. Our main target markets include underserved clients who have been ignored or underserved by the incumbents. Our digital banking ecosystem serves both consumers and mercants on a single platform. These merchants and consumers are attracted by our disruptive technology, which enables us to offer free, innovative, scalable and low-cost products and services with simpler onboarding, no paperwork and a high acceptance rate, while maintaining levels of fraud below those required by the card schemes. Once on our platform, merchants can offer consumers 37 cash-in methods, choose to obtain early payment of their card receivables on consumer installment transactions, and manage their cash balances on our free PagBank digital account, which offers eight cash-out options including wire and peer to peer transfers, QR code payments, bill payments, top up prepaid mobile phone credit, online purchasing through our eWallet, and in-person and online purchases or cash withdrawals using our PagSeguro prepaid and cash cards. Our management tools help them start or grow their businesses with PagSeguro as a partner, with software functionalities such as sales reports, credit and debit card reconciliation and inventory control, which we believe create a strong commercial bond with our clients. We believe the combination of all these features increases our clients’ loyalty, leading them to conduct additional business with us, in a virtuous cycle. Our merchants span businesses of all types and sizes, ranging from individual entrepreneurs, Micro-Merchants and Small Companies such as street vendors and beauty salons, to Medium-Sized Companies in retail and other sectors. We also have a growing presence in the business-to-business commerce segment.