NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / November 10, 2026 / doola, the AI Business-in-a-Box™ solution for global entrepreneurs, has embedded its formation flow into Shield, the fintech built for international wholesale trade.
A wholesaler in Lima, Buenos Aires or Bogotá can now apply for a US LLC on the same platform where they plan to bank and pay suppliers, instead of hiring a lawyer or a formation service in another country. doola submits the state filing, obtains the EIN, assigns the registered agent and provides the business address. The flow is live and open to anyone.
Shield is doola's second fintech integration, after Ramp, and it reaches a different founder. Of all doola's embedded partners, Shield sits closest to the founder doola was built for: someone outside the US who needs a US company in order to get banked and paid.
Each formation placed through Shield includes the state filing with the operating agreement, an EIN, a registered agent and a US business address. Once the company is live, the founder can open a Shield US business account and apply for the Shield business credit card through Shield and its banking partners. The scope is narrow on purpose: LLCs only, in Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada, Florida or Texas.
Shield's customers are importers, exporters, wholesalers and distributors moving real volume across borders. They do not need a US entity to open an account. By Shield's own account, only the business credit card does, and that card is the one they would use to pay suppliers in dollars on credit.
That is where the gap sits. A distributor in Colombia can get a US account and routing numbers without forming anything. The card waits on a company, and forming one from abroad means picking a state, appointing a registered agent, finding a US address for IRS and state mail, and applying for an EIN. Without a Social Security number that EIN application goes to the IRS by phone, fax or mail, which Shield's page puts at about six weeks.
The application runs inside Shield's own site through the doola Formation SDK, which walks the founder through seven steps: user information, entity, ownership, responsible party, addresses, details and 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. Shield recommends a state based on the founder's answers.
"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," said Emmanuel Udotong, Co-founder and CEO of Shield.
Shield wanted something its team could put in front of customers quickly. Building a formation flow from scratch on an API means designing every screen, every validation rule and every IRS signing step before the first customer sees it. The SDK removed that work while leaving Shield's own pricing and checkout intact.
The customer fit mattered as much: doola's Formation API serves founders in 175+ countries without requiring a US person on the filing, most of Shield's customers are outside the US, and doola supported Shield's team in Spanish.
"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," said Arjun Mahadevan, Founder and CEO of doola.
Shield is the latest category of platform to put doola formation inside its own product, and each one reaches a different founder.
- Ramp covers fintech, for venture-backed startups incorporating as C Corporations.
- Whop covers creator marketplaces, for merchants forming LLCs.
- Naïve covers AI agents, where the entity is formed by software rather than by a founder clicking through a flow.
- HelloGov covers government services, for people handling a passport or visa who also want to start a US business.
- Incorpify covers multi-jurisdiction business setup, for founders running a company across borders.
- Durable covers website builders, for service businesses that started with a site.
- Shield covers cross-border trade payments, for business owners abroad who already move goods and money internationally and want the US company that lets them do more of it.
Shield launched in 2022 and moved into payments in 2024. In September 2025 it raised a $5 million seed round led by Giant Ventures, with participation from a16z's crypto startup accelerator, bringing its total raised to $7 million. As of November 2026 the company reports more than $600 million in transactions and customers in more than 120 countries.
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).
A wholesaler in Peru is not looking for an LLC. They are looking for a better way to get paid in dollars and pay suppliers on time. The company is a requirement on the way there, and the platform already handling their money is the natural place to meet it.
Platforms interested in adding company formation can reach the doola team.
About Shield
Shield is modern banking and payments for global trade. Importers, exporters and wholesalers use Shield to get paid in foreign currencies and settle as USD in minutes. Shield has processed $600M+ across 120+ countries.
About doola
doola (Y Combinator S20) is the AI Business-in-a-Box™ for global entrepreneurs, providing an all-in-one back office that includes U.S. LLC formation, Registered Agent services, an EIN, U.S. business banking and payment processor access, bookkeeping, business tax filings, analytics, and a company formation API. doola has served 32,000+ founders across 175+ countries and is backed by Y Combinator, Nexus Venture Partners, and HubSpot Ventures.
For media inquiries, please contact:
Arjun Mahadevan, Founder & CEO, doola
arjun@doola.com
Related Links:
Website: https://www.doola.com/formation-api/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@doolahq
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/doolahq
SOURCE: doola
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