Shield now forms US companies for its customers on doola. A wholesaler in Lima, Buenos Aires or Bogotá can apply for a US LLC on the same platform where they plan to bank and pay suppliers, instead of finding a lawyer or a formation service in another country.
The flow is live and it’s open to everyone. You don’t need to be a Shield customer to use it.
Shield is doola’s latest fintech partner, after Ramp. Of all doola’s embedded partners, it’s the closest to the founder doola was built for: someone outside the US who needs a US company to get banked and paid.
Shield is a Miami fintech for international wholesale trade. Emmanuel Udotong (CEO), his brother Isaiah Udotong (COO) and Luis Carchi (CTO) launched it in 2022 and moved into payments in 2024. Its September 2025 seed round of $5 million was led by Giant Ventures, with backing from a16z crypto’s startup accelerator.
Shield reports more than $600 million in transactions and customers in 120+ countries, as of November 2026.
Shield is not a bank. Its cards are issued by First Internet Bank of Indiana through CapitalOS, and money transmission runs through Bridge Building Inc. (NMLS #2450917).
The Card Needs a Company
Shield’s customers are importers, exporters, wholesalers and distributors. They move real volume across borders.
Shield doesn’t require one to open an account. Its own FAQ says that only the business credit card needs a US entity.
A distributor in Colombia can get a US bank account and routing numbers without forming anything. The card, which they’d use to pay suppliers in dollars on credit, waits on a US company.
Forming one from abroad has its own steps. The founder picks a state, appoints a registered agent and finds a US address for IRS and state mail.
They also apply for an EIN, which goes to the IRS by phone, fax or mail when they don’t have a Social Security number. Shield’s page puts that last step at about six weeks.
Formation, Built Into Shield’s Site
The application runs inside Shield’s own site. doola’s formation flow is embedded through the doola Formation SDK and walks the founder through seven steps:
- User information
- Entity
- Ownership
- Responsible party
- Addresses
- Details
- Review
An SSN is optional. The IRS forms doola needs signed, the SS-4 for the EIN and the 8821 tax information authorization, are signed inside the same flow.
After review, the founder moves to Shield’s own checkout.
The scope is narrow on purpose: LLCs only, in Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida or Texas.
Shield recommends a state from the founder’s answers, citing doola’s guide to the best states for foreign founders.
What the founder gets:
- LLC formation with the state (doola)
- An EIN (doola)
- A US business address (doola)
- A registered agent (doola)
- A Shield US business account and Shield business credit card once the company is live (Shield and its banking partners)
Why Shield Built on doola
Shield wanted something its team could test quickly. Building a formation flow from scratch on an API means designing every screen, validation rule and IRS signing step before a single customer sees it. The SDK let Shield skip that work while keeping its own pricing and checkout.
For fintechs and neobanks weighing whether to embed formation, Shield shows that the SDK lets a small team launch formation on its own site without building the flow itself.
“doola has established itself as a company formation partner that brings trust, professionalism, reliability, and speed to an otherwise cumbersome process. It was an easy integration with the help from their team and now we can deliver this capability directly to our customers.”
Emmanuel Udotong, Co-founder and CEO, Shield
The customer fit mattered just as much. doola Formation API serves founders in 175+ countries without requiring a US person on the filing. Shield’s customers are mostly outside the US. doola also supported Shield’s team in Spanish.
doola Formation API on other Platforms
Shield is another major platform where the doola Formation API is integrated.
Other platforms powered by the doola Formation API are:
The Account Is the Front Door
A wholesaler in Peru isn’t looking for an LLC. They’re looking for a better way to get paid in dollars and pay suppliers on time.
The company is a requirement on the way to that, and the platform that handles their money is the natural place to meet it.
“Founders outside the US don’t go looking for a formation company. They go looking for a way to get paid in dollars. Shield is where a lot of them already end up, and now the US company comes with the account.”
Arjun Mahadevan, Founder and CEO, doola
Forming your US company through Shield? Start your US LLC →
Want to add company formation to your platform? Talk to the doola team →
